Naming is dissected here. Many family names refers to a geographic location. It can be a village name or the name of the particular plot of land. Keppetipola is a name of a village. Polwatta-ge refers to a name of the land as refereed in the deed specifying ownership. Some names originated from a relationship, Wilson means Wil's Son.

Abeywickrama can be written very easily using Unicode characters, yet the same word has been spelt in English in many ways. Some of the variations are Abeywickrema, Abeywickreme, and Abewickrema.

In the past people used very long surnames indicating the family tree. With diminishing significance of cast and creed more and more people opt for simpler names. Ravi, Wimala, Perera and Silva are surnames used very widely.

Politicians can gain advantage in alphabetic listing of the contestant name list in the ballot paper. In the past they have been creative with their own names.