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 (other names: Satkar) 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" [Kul Daivat].
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 (second) edition was published on 26 January 1988. At that time, there were around 780 Kanitkar males and 530 females living:
Gharane No. Gharane Name Total Males Living Males Living Females Popular Cities Contact 1 Basani – Ganeshwadi 283 124 70 Mumbai, Pune Jayant Mahadeo 2 Basani – Sakharpe 128 43 30 Mumbai 3 Basani – Dhom 77 27 34 Pune, Mumbai Vasudeo Janardan 4 Basani – Vetoshi 43 16 10 Pune, Kolhapur 5 Palshet – Adoor 191 65 38 Mumbai, Pune Rajan Yashwant6Palshet – Junnar 202 101 66 Mumbai, Pune Girish Sudhakar7 Palshet – Bavdhan 237 110 78 Pune, Vadodara Maheshwar Ramchandra 8 Palshet – Kothure 38 3 5 Sangli9Palshet – LimbaGanesh 77 37 28 Limbaganesh, Aurangabad, Pune, Mumbai, Thane Mandar Kanitkar10 Palshet – Chandwad34 5 4 Mumbai11Palshet – Shirdhon 103 50 39 Pune, Mumbai12 Palshet – Padli 39 15 5 Pune13 Palshet – Bhadkambe 137 54 36 Mumbai, Gwalior Guruprasad Dattatray14 Palshet – Aachre 31 0 115 Palshet – Siddheshwar 46 18 14 Mumbai16 Palshet – Guttal 74 33 16 Hubli Sharad Madhav17 Palshet – Guhaghar 34 2 3Guhagar Sanjay Vinayak18 Palshet – Ambegaon 27 0 0 19 Palshet – Tarapur 34 5 5 Tarapur20 Palshet – Chinchner 21 6 2 Pune, Satara21 Bhatgaon – Aanjarle 43 21 17 Mumbai, Mahad22 Nandiwade – Vileparle 29 14 11 Mumbai Mandar Chintamani23 Weldoor – Bhiwandi 45 21 13 Mumbai, Pune
These 1300+ Kanitkars live in 102 different cities/towns in 475 families. Most are in Greater Mumbai (129), Pune (106), Sangli (19), Vadodara (39) and Kolhapur (14).
Most popular Male names were Dattatray (15), Vinayak (12), Madhav, Milind, Vishwanath and Yashwant (11 each), and Gajanan, Gopal, Laxman and Prabhakar (10 each.) Popular female names were Usha (16), Jayashree (11), Anjali and Vijaya (10 each.)
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