Yeah, that's the difference. In the rest of the country you find ppl using the name of their caste or creed as second names but in south India family names are surnames. For example, there are millions of Reddys, Raos, Sastris, Naidus etc. which is actually caste but there is only one Nalla Chakravartula in the whole AP. The name belongs to that particular family tree. Another example is NTR. I hope everyone knows NTR here. His full name is Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao. If you split the whole name-
Nandamuri - name of the family,
Taraka Rama - actual name and
Rao - caste
Not many ppl prefer mentioning the names of their caste as it is not as necessary as family name. If you find someone else with the same surname Nallan Chakravartula then you can make out that the other person belongs to Karunya's family tree.
Edited by lovlina - 20 years ago