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Family name origins & meanings
- Indian (Assam, Bengal, and Panjab) and Bangladeshi : Hindu name from Sanskrit datta ‘given’, ‘gift’. In ancient Sanskrit literature this name is associated with the Vaishya caste. In Assam and Bengal the Dattas belong to the Kayasth caste. In the Panjab it is a Brahman name based on the name of a clan in the Mohyal subgroup of Saraswat Brahmans, having probably evolved from an ancestral personal name.