Gautama (name)

Gautama (Classical Sanskrit: /ɡɑw.t̪ɐ.mɐ/ IAST : Gautama), also spelled Gautam, Goutam,^[2] Gautham, Gowtham, and Gotam^[3] is a given name and surname of Sanskrit origin. It means "relative of Gotama".^[1]

Goutam is the usual Bengali transcription of the name.^[4]

Gautama is a Vṛddhi patronymic derivative of Gotama (Classical Sanskrit: /ɡoː.t̪ɐ.mɐ/ IAST : Gotama), meaning "related to Gotama".^[1] Gotama means "richest in cows" according to Mayrhofer (1992)^[5] or "the largest ox" according to Monier-Williams (1899).^[6]

Gautama is the name or part of the name of important religious figures such as Maharshi Gautama,^[1] the Buddha (Siddhartha Gautama), the founder of the Nyaya school of Hindu philosophy Akṣapāda Gautama,^[7] and Mahavira's chief disciple (Ganadhara) Gautama Swami (Indrabhuti Gautama).^[8]

The name is attested in the Avesta once, in Yt. 13.16: "An eloquent man will be born, who makes his words heard in verbal contests, whose judgment is sought after, who comes away from the discussion victorious over the defeated Gaotəma.".^[9] The name Ka-u-da-ma found in the Persepolis tablets may linguistically be the same as Gaotəma, and related to Gautama.^{[10] [9]}

As of 2014, 'Gautam' is the 2,179th most common given name in the world, with a total of 464,750 people named it.^[11] It is the 276th most common given name in India, with 446,365 people named it,^[12] the 725th most common given name in Nepal, with 5,183 people named it,^[13] and the 3,189th most common given name in Bangladesh, with 4,949 people named it.^[11] It is primarily a male name.^{[12] [13] [11]} A total of 357,140 people in the world bear it as their surname.^[14] It is the 313th most common surname in India, with 233,387 people having it.^[15] It is the 54th most common surname in Nepal, with 113,669 people having it.^[16] 'Goutam' is the 937th most common given name in India, with 163,102 people named it.^[12] It is the name of 18,146 people in Bangladesh. It is also primarily a male name.^[17] A total of 12,896 in the world bear it as their surname.^[18]

• Origin and history of Gautama by Etymonline