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Andhra Pradesh and Telangana
In Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, family names are most commonly derived from the name of their ancestral hometown or the family profession in the caste system. The last name or the family name is placed before the first name for Telugu people. However, this practice has been changing slowly to maintain consistency with people from other cultures, particularly in diverse work environments.

Among Dalith communities, particularly in Southern districts, the surname 'Nethala' is quite common and popular. Since they are many, the word could have become their family name in course of time. The surname is also commonly referred to certain sections of Mala community as well.

For example: 'Nethala' is the surname and 'Prudhviraj' is the first name. Some of the last names of Telugu Brahmins include Susarla,Dhulipala, Evani, Munukutla, Tenali, Lanka, Narisetty, Devarakonda, Bhamidipati, Akula, Duvvuri, Pamarti, Addanki, Upadrashta, Vedula, Vedantam, Chakrala, Indrakanti, Addikecharla, Goteti etc. It should be noted however that last names need not be restricted to a caste all the time. Yadavas have their surnames like maddasani, boina etc.

Gouds have their surnames like Tulla, Siliveru, Kotha, Bandari etc. Padmasalis have their surnames like Damarla, chintakrindi, bitra etc.chowdarys have their surnames like inapakolla, nandamuri, Sakamuri, kora etc. Some Telugu people have both village name and a caste name as part of their name, for instance Alluri Sita Rama Raju or Sita Rama Raju Alluri.And Here Alluri is the surname referring the person's clan/ancestral home town, Sita Rama are the person's first and middle names and Raju is the caste name or sometimes they are called by their caste name alone, like Chowdary, Goud, Kumar, Rao, Naidu, Raju, Reddy, Thota are the most common last names in Telangana. There is no father's name as middle name in this region. In southern Andhra Pradesh, it is particularly common to use the caste name alongside the family name. Surnames starting with Yendluri, Pavuluru(ri) Chowdarys (Naidus) follow this system of naming. The order of ancestry of family names seem to be as follows. Family names ending with sanskritized/prakritized names are from oldest era of pre Jainism (Example: Ghantasala (means place of the bell in Sanskrit). Family names ending with "palle" or "palli" seem to date back to pre Ashokan era of Jainism. Example: Repalle, Parupalli, Kondapalli etc., reflecting the ancestry of the place or home town. Family names ending with "palle" or "palli" evolved later during post Ashokan period of Buddhism as new towns were established. Example: Gottipati, Bhamidipati, Gudipudi, Rimmalapudi etc., . As some heroes emerged in families, some families seem to have changed their family names reflectiing respective hero. Example: Baireddy, Veeramachaneni, Katamasani etc., . And there are family names reflecting professions as well.

Telugu Brahmin Names:

Smaarta vaidikis are the traditional family priests of all old clans and communities of Andhra Pradesh. If a "traditional" or 'conservative" community doesn't have smarta vaidikis as their family priests, it indicates they are recent arrivals or still upwardly mobile, or reformist- rebels against the old systems. Some vaidiki surnames are Nori, Kota, Puranam.

Some smaarta niyogi surnames end in—raju (--senior civil servant) like Pemmaraju, Nellutla, Akkiraju, etc., and—pragada (--minister) Rebba pragada, Maanapragada, Dharani pragada. etc. 'Preggade' is the old form, same as Kannada 'hegde' and means minister, or sponsor of the vedic ritual.

Often the surnames are derived from the place name ("village name") where their ancestor received some grants of land or revenue from ancient kings, sometimes "agraharam" as the estate is called. e.g. Abburi from village Abbur, Uppaluri from Uppalur, Nidamarthi,Nellutla from the village of Nidamarru, Valluri from Vallur, Dharanikota (the fort of dharani), Kocherlakota, etc. These agrahaarams and ghatikas are very ancient and usually found along the lower deltas of the large rivers. When the forests were being cleared these agraharams were sort of frontier outposts. Later large villages and towns grew around the agrahaarams.

Hence some Telugu surnames are derived from the village name, if they received such villages (agraharams) as a grant from a king, thus indicating a matter of pride and sense of bonding to that village.