Kanitkar


Kanitkar is a surname used by Konkanastha Brahmins, the Konkanastha Chitapavan sub-caste of Brahmins in India. Kanitkars, like most other Konkanastha Chitpavan Brahmins, originate in the Konkan strip on the western seacoast of India – about 300-500 kilometers south of Mumbai. Kanitkars were from original five towns and 23 descendant families, spread to 110 towns by 1988. Kanitkars belong to Kaushik Gotra, and consider Shree Vyadeshwar at Guhaghar, Maharashtra, India as their primary "family god" .
A large majority of Kanitkars still live in Pune, Maharashtra, India – with the rest in Mumbai, Vadodara and many other cities. Several Kanitkars have also migrated to foreign countries – United States, Australia and Singapore, to name a few.
Genealogy of Kanitkars is documented in "Kanitkar Kul Vrutanta", the latest edition was published on 26 January 1988. At that time, there were around 780 Kanitkar males and 530 females living:
Gharane No.Gharane NameTotal MalesLiving MalesLiving FemalesPopular CitiesContact
1BasaniGaneshwadi283 124 70Mumbai, PuneJayant Mahadeo
2 Basani – Sakharpe128 43 30Mumbai
3 Basani – Dhom77 27 34Pune, MumbaiVasudeo Janardan
4 Basani – Vetoshi43 16 10Pune, Kolhapur
5 Palshet – Adoor191 65 38Mumbai, PuneRajan Yashwant
6Palshet – Junnar202 101 66Mumbai, PuneGirish Sudhakar
7 Palshet – Bavdhan237 110 78Pune, VadodaraMaheshwar Ramchandra
8 Palshet – Kothure38 3 5Sangli
9Palshet – LimbaGanesh773728Limbaganesh, Aurangabad, Pune, Mumbai, ThaneMandar Kanitkar
10 Palshet – Chandwad34 54Mumbai
11Palshet – Shirdhon103 50 39Pune, Mumbai
12 Palshet – Padli39 155Pune
13 Palshet – Bhadkambe137 54 36Mumbai, GwaliorGuruprasad Dattatray
14 Palshet – Aachre31 01
15 Palshet – Siddheshwar46 18 14Mumbai
16 Palshet – Guttal74 33 16HubliSharad Madhav
17 Palshet – Guhaghar34 2 3GuhagarSanjay Vinayak
18 Palshet – Ambegaon27 0 0
19 Palshet – Tarapur34 5 5Tarapur
20 Palshet – Chinchner21 62Pune, Satara
21 Bhatgaon – Aanjarle43 21 17Mumbai, Mahad
22 Nandiwade – Vileparle29 14 11MumbaiMandar Chintamani
23 Weldoor – Bhiwandi45 21 13Mumbai, Pune

These 1300+ Kanitkars live in 102 different cities/towns in 475 families. Most are in Greater Mumbai, Pune, Sangli, Vadodara and Kolhapur.
Most popular Male names were Dattatray, Vinayak, Madhav, Milind, Vishwanath and Yashwant, and Gajanan, Gopal, Laxman and Prabhakar Popular female names were Usha, Jayashree, Anjali and Vijaya