Dwivedi

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Hindi द्विवेदी (dvivedī), which is from Sanskrit द्विवेदिन् (dvivedin, “familiar with the two Vedas”); ultimately from द्वि (dvi, “two”) + वेद (veda, “knowledge; Veda”).

Proper noun

Dwivedi (plural Dwivedis)

1. A surname.
   • 2023, Santanu Bhattacharya, One Small Voice, Fig Tree, page 10:

     ‘Dwivedi is the uncle down the street.’
     He couldn’t tell the difference; they sounded the same to his ears. ‘Who is better? Them or us?’
     ‘Both are high-caste Brahmins. But our ancestors knew three Vedas; theirs knew only two.’

Statistics

• According to the 2010 United States Census, Dwivedi is the 38155^th most common surname in the United States, belonging to 581 individuals. Dwivedi is most common among Asian/Pacific Islander (95.87%) individuals.

Further reading

• Hanks, Patrick, editor (2003), “Dwivedi”, in Dictionary of American Family Names, volume 1, New York: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 505.