Abstract: Notifications of name changes published in Sinhala newspapers during 1993 to 1995, and in1976 were analyzed to see patterns of family name changes and changes of caste status associated with assumption of new family names. Altogether 12547 notifications of name changes were reported during this period. The analysis showed that 71% of the notifications were about changing family names. 36% of the notifications of family name changes were about changing family names of the whole family to assume high caste status, while individuals assuming high caste/class family names notified 64% of family name changes, both by the individuals and the families, 76% have assumed high cast names, 16% changed to a caste names, and the rest were change of family names within their own castes.