The traditional Bengali version of this surname is Gangopadhyay(a) or Gônggopaddhae.
[1] According to texts, King Adisura invited five Brahmins to settle in the region from Kanauj and designated them higher in social status.
[2][3] Multiple accounts of this legend exist; historians generally consider it to be nothing more than myth or folklore, lacking historical authenticity.
[4] The tradition continues by saying that these incomers settled and each became the founder of a clan.
[5] The five Brahmin clans, which later became known as Mukherjees, Chatterjees, Banerjees, Gangulys and Bhattacharjees, were each designated as Kulina ("superior") in order to differentiate them from the more established local Brahmins.