Explore the Family Name Purohit

The meaning of Purohit

Indian (northern states): Brahmin name meaning ‘family priest’, from Sanskrit purohita ‘one placed foremost’ (from puras ‘front’ + hita ‘placed’). Some characteristic forenames: Indian Dilip, Chandrakant, Amul, Anand, Atul, Bharat, Devesh, Kishore, Manish, Naishadh, Parul, Prakash.

Dictionary of American Family Names, 2nd edition, © Oxford University Press, 2022.

How common is the last name Purohit in the United States?

Based on the Decennial U.S. Census, the popularity of the surname Purohit has seen significant growth between 2000 and 2010. In 2000, Purohit was ranked 36,381st in terms of commonality, but by 2010, it had leapt to the 23,750th position - an impressive rise of 34.72%. The number of individuals carrying this surname also increased from 581 in 2000 to 1,065 in 2010, marking an 83.3% increase. The proportion per 100,000 people similarly rose by 63.64%, moving from 0.22 to 0.36.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#36,381	#23,750	34.72%
Count	581	1,065	83.3%
Proportion per 100k	0.22	0.36	63.64%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Purohit

With regard to ethnic identity, data from the Decennial U.S. Census reveals that the majority of individuals with the surname Purohit identify as Asian/Pacific Islander. This group accounted for 92.60% in 2000 and slightly increased to 92.77% in 2010. The proportion of those identifying as two or more races decreased by 29.64% over the decade, and representation among Whites also dropped by 18.18%. However, there were new appearances in the Hispanic, Black, and American Indian/Alaskan Native categories in 2010, which did not exist in 2000, indicating a diversifying ethnic background among those bearing the Purohit surname.

	2000	2010	Change
Asian/Pacific Islander	92.6%	92.77%	0.18%
Two or More Races	3.61%	2.54%	-29.64%
White	2.75%	2.25%	-18.18%
Hispanic	0%	1.03%	0%
Black	0%	0.94%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0%	0.47%	0%