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{{wikt|Chatterjee|Chattopadhyay}}
{{Infobox surname
 |name              = Chatterjee
 |pronunciation     = 
 |image             = 
 |caption           = 
 |meaning           = 
 |region            = [[Bengal]]
 |origin            = [[Bengali Hindu]]
 |variant     = 
 |footnotes         = 
}}
'''Chatterjee'''  ({{langx|bn|চ্যাটার্জি}}), also known as '''Chattopadhyay''' is a [[Bengali Hindu]] surname, used by the [[Kulin Brahmin|Kulin]] group of the [[Bengali Brahmin]] caste.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Hanks |first=Patrick |date=2003 |chapter=Chatterjee |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vG7MZ9J6dAgC&q=chatterjee%20chattopadhyay%20anglicize&pg=PA320 |title=Dictionary of American Family Names: 3-Volume Set |publisher=Oxford University Press, USA |isbn=9780195081374 |pages=320 |language=en}}</ref> Together with [[Banerjee]]s, [[Mukherjee]]s, [[Bhattacharjee]]s, and [[Ganguly (surname)|Ganguly]]s, Chatterjees form the Kulin Brahmins, the highest tier of the [[Bengalis|Bengali]] caste system.<ref>{{Cite book |editor1-last=Bromley |editor1-first=David G. |editor2=Larry D. Shinn |date=1989 |title=Krishna Consciousness in the West |location=Lewisburg, Pa. |publisher=Bucknell University Press |isbn=0-8387-5144-X |oclc=17984402}}</ref> They belong to [[Rarh region|Rarhi]] clan of Bengali Brahmins and the [[Kashyapa]] [[gotra]].

==Variation==
''Chatterjee'' is an [[Anglicisation|Anglicized]] variant of the Sanskritized ''Chattopadhyay''.<ref name=":0"/> English language spellings include Chatterjee, Chatterjea, Chatterji, Chaterjee, Chattopadhyay, and Chattopadhyaya.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Rodrigues |first=Hillary |date=2003 |title=Ritual Worship of the Great Goddess: The Liturgy of the Durga Puja with Interpretations |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=onyaEhwhJBUC&pg=PA320 |publisher=SUNY Press |isbn=9780791488447 |pages=320|language=en}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last=Joshi |first=Priya |date=2002 |title=In Another Country: Colonialism, Culture, and the English Novel in India |url=https://archive.org/details/inanothercountry0000josh |url-access=registration |publisher=Columbia University Press|isbn=9780231500906 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/inanothercountry0000josh/page/283 283] |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |author=International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions |title=Names of Persons: National Usages for Entry in Catalogues |date=2013 |chapter=Bengali |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Z8zoBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA21 |publisher=Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG |isbn=9783110974553 |pages=21 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EH08DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA5 |title=Ānandamaṭh, Or, The Sacred Brotherhood |last1=Chatterji |first1=Bankim Chandra |last2=Caṭṭopādhyāẏa |first2=Baṅkimacandra |date=2005 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=9780195178579 |pages=5 |language=en |chapter=Introduction}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Chakraborty |first=Paulomi |date=2018 |title=The Refugee Woman: Partition of Bengal, Gender, and the Political |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=u1ZxDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT70 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=9780199095391 |pages=270}}</ref>

== Notable Chatterjees ==
{{Div col|colwidth=20em|gap=2em}}  
* [[Abhishek Chatterjee]] {{en dash}} Bengali film and television actor
* [[Abir Chatterjee]] – actor
* [[Adhar Kumar Chatterji]] – former Chief of the Naval Staff of the Indian Navy (1966–1970)
* [[Aditi Chatterjee]] – Bengali film and television actress
* [[Alok Chatterjee]] – theatre actor and director
* [[Amarendranath Chatterjee]] – freedom fighter
* [[Amitabha Chattopadhyay]] – biophysicist
* [[Amitava Chattopadhyay]] – INSEAD professor of marketing and innovation
* [[Angana P. Chatterji]] – anthropologist, activist and feminist historian
* [[Anil Chatterjee]] – actor
* [[Anindo Chatterjee]] – tabla player
* [[Anjan Chattopadhyay]] – sitar maestro
* [[Anjan Chatterjee (neuroscientist)]] – cognitive neuroscientist
* [[Aroup Chatterjee]] – British Indian atheist, physician, author of ''Mother Teresa: The Untold Story''
* [[Ashim Chatterjee]] – politician and activist
* [[Asima Chatterjee]] – Indian organic chemist and the second woman to be conferred a Doctorate of Science by an Indian university
* [[Atul Chandra Chatterjee]] – Indian diplomat and government official. Served as the Indian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom from 1925 to 1931.
* [[Bamakhepa|Bamacharan Chattopadhyay]] – ardent devotee of Maa Tara, also considered to be an avatar of Lord Shiva
* [[Bankim Chandra Chatterjee]] – Indian patriot, writer, poet and journalist and composer of [[Vande Mataram]], the national song of India
* [[Basu Chatterjee]] – film director
* [[Bhaswar Chatterjee]] – Indian actor
* [[Biswajit Chatterjee]] – Bollywood actor
* [[Debabarta Chatterjee]] – botanist
* [[Debiprasad Chattopadhyaya]] – author, philosopher
* [[Debjani Chatterji]] – Indian-born British poet
* [[Deen K. Chatterjee]] - philosopher
* [[Dhritiman Chatterjee]] – actor 
* [[Dhruva Chatterjee]] – writer and screenplay writer of Hindi movies
* [[Dipankar Chatterji]] – molecular biologist
* [[Ramakrishna|Gadadhar Chattopadhyay]] – Sri Sri Ramakrishna Paramahansa, devotee of Dakshina Kali and Priest of Dakshineswar Kali Temple.
* [[Gautam Chattopadhyay]] – musician
* [[Harindranath Chattopadhyay]] – poet, actor and brother of Sarojini Naidu
* [[Indira Chatterji]] (born 1973), Swiss-Indian mathematician
* [[Jogesh Chandra Chatterjee]] – Indian freedom fighter, activist and member of Rajya Sabha
* [[Joya Chatterji]] – Professor of South Asian history
* [[Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay]] – social reformer
* [[Kshetresa Chandra Chattopadhyaya]] – Sanskrit scholar
* [[Mirai Chatterjee]] – Indian social worker
* [[Mohini Mohun Chatterji]] – theosophist, scholar
* [[Moushumi Chatterjee]] – Bollywood actress
* [[Neil Chatterjee]] – American lawyer, political advisor, and government official, chair of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission twice between 2017 and 2020
* [[Nigamananda]] – Yogi
* [[Parambrata Chatterjee]] – actor
* [[Partha Chatterjee (scholar)|Partha Chatterjee]] – scholar and author
* [[Piya Chattopadhyay]] – Canadian broadcaster
* [[Pratap Chatterjee]] – journalist and author
* [[Priyadarshini Chatterjee]] – Miss India World 2016
* [[Priyanshu Chatterjee]] – Bollywood actor
* [[Prosenjit Chatterjee]] – actor
* [[Pulok Chatterji]] – former bureaucrat and Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister of India (2011–2014)
* [[Purnendu Chatterjee]] – businessman, founder of TCG
* [[Rabiranjan Chattopadhyay]], Indian politician
* [[Ramakrishna Paramahamsa]] – born Gadadhar Chattopadhyay, a famous mystic of 19th-century India
* [[Ramananda Chatterjee]] — founder, editor, and owner of the [[Modern Review (Calcutta)|Modern Review]], he has been described as the father of Indian journalism
* [[Rangan Chatterjee]] – Physician, author, television presenter and broadcaster
* [[Sabitri Chatterjee]] – Indian Bengali female actress
* [[Sankar Chatterjee]] – paleontologist
* [[Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay]], Indian writer
* [[Sarojini Naidu]] née Chattopadhyay – freedom fighter, poet
* [[Saswata Chatterjee]] – actor
* [[Shakti Chattopadhyay]] – poet
* [[Shekhar Chatterjee]] – entrepreneur
* [[Shiba P. Chatterjee]] – professor, former president of International Geographical Union
* [[Sitaramdas Omkarnath]] – Bhakti saint
* [[Somnath Chatterjee]] – eminent lawyer and former speaker of Lok Sabha
* [[Soumitra Chatterjee]] – actor
* [[Sourav Chatterjee]] – mathematician
* [[Sovan Chatterjee]] – former mayor of the city of Kolkata
* [[Srabanti Chatterjee]] – actress
* [[Subhendu Chatterjee]] – actor
* [[Subhadeep Chatterjee]] – Indian molecular biologist
* [[Sudeep Chatterjee]] – cinematographer
* [[Sudip Chattopadhyay]] – biologist
* [[Suman Chatterjee]] (now Kabir Suman) – musician
* [[Suniti Kumar Chatterji]] – Indian linguist, educationist and litterateur
* [[Swapan Chattopadhyay]] – director of the Cockcroft Institute
* [[Tannishtha Chatterjee]] – actress
* [[Upamanyu Chatterjee]] – author
* [[Utpal Chatterjee]] – cricketer
* [[Uttam Kumar]] (Arun Chatterjee) – actor
* [[Vikram Chatterjee]] – Indian actor of Bengali cinema
* [[Virendranath Chattopadhyaya]] – activist
{{Div col end}}

== See also ==
* [[Bengali Hindus]]
* [[Bengali Brahmin]]s
* [[Kulin Brahmins]]

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

{{surname}}
{{Bengali Hindu people}}

[[Category:Brahmin communities]]
[[Category:Social groups of West Bengal]]
[[Category:Surnames of Indian origin]]
[[Category:Bengali-language surnames]]
[[Category:Surnames of Hindu origin]]
[[Category:Bengali Hindu surnames]]
[[Category:Kulin Brahmin surnames]]
[[Category:Brahmin communities of West Bengal]]