Mehta

Mehta is a Khatri Punjabi surname that means 'chief' or 'great' from Sanskrit mahita, which comes from mah- 'to praise or magnify'. In Gujarati it has also come to mean ‘teacher’ and ‘accountant’, probably because teachers and accountants were respectfully so addressed in Gujarat.

Mehta is also a Marwari surname and they are both Hindu and Jains. Also some of them use prefix Singh before their surname and most are found in Rajasthan, such as Veer Singh Mehta, a notable Indian neurosurgeon.

Mehtas in Punjab and Himachal, were usually heads of villages assigned by the King. In recent years, people have dropped their original surnames and taken up "Mehta" as their surname which was a title given to the head of their family.

People from Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat are also called Mehta. Mehtas can belong to Hinduism or Jainism and speak either Punjabi, Pahari, Hindi or Gujurati.

Mehtas of Jharkhand

An unrelated use of Mehta is in Bihar and Jharkhand where Koiris and Kurmis use Mahto and its variant Mehta.

Notable Mehtas

Notable individuals with this surname include:

• Anil Mehta, Director, Cinematographer, Writer
• Bejun Mehta, (*1968) American countertenor
• Deepa Mehta, (*1950) Indian-born Canadian film director and screenwriter.
• Gulshan Kumar Mehta, Indian lyricist.
• Kunal Mehta, Associate at MarkitSERV.
• Harshad Mehta, Indian Stockbroker.
• Hemant Mehta, American-born Sikh author
• Jagat Singh Mehta, former foreign secretary of India..
• Madan Lal Mehta,*(1932-2006)theoretical physicist in the field of random matrix theory
• Mohan Sinha Mehta, Ph.D. from London School of Economics.
• Narsinh Mehta, (1414 – 1481) poet-saint of Gujarat, India.
• Pherozeshah Mehta, (1845–1915) Indian political leader, activist, and lawyer.
• Tyeb Mehta, (*1925) Indian painter.
• Ved Mehta, Writer.
• Veer Singh Mehta is notable Indian neurosurgeon.
• Vikram Bhagvandas Mehta, Indian mathematician.
• Mehli Mehta, (1908–2002) Indian musician and founder of the Bombay Symphony Orchestra and father of:

Zarin and Zubin Mehta.

• Zarin Mehta, (*1938) executive director of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, and Zubin Mehta's brother.
• Zubin Mehta, (*1936) Indian conductor of Western classical music and Zarin Mehta's brother.

References

• Dictionary of American Family Names, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-508137-4
• Mehta Name Meaning and Origin - Ancestry.com

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