Patel
Patel is an Indian caste/clan title, predominantly found in the states of Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh representing the community of land-owning farmers and later (with the British East India Company) businessmen, agriculturalists and merchants. Traditionally the title is a status name referring to the village chieftains during medieval times, and was later retained as successive generations stemmed out into communities of landowners. There are roughly 500,000 Patels outside India, including about 150,000 in the United Kingdom and about 150,000 in the United States. Nearly 1 in 10 people of Indian origin in the US is a Patel.

As a title 
Kolis of Gujarat who are agriculturist by profession use Patel as a title.

Lodhi Rajputs of Madhya Pradesh also use Patel title, as many of them were village headmen in the past and still continuing.

Patidars of Gujarat also use the Patel title as they are traditionally village headmen.

Parsis of Gujarat were traditionally village herdsmen, some adopted the title of Patel.

Gujarati Muslims, especially from the Sunni Vohra community, also use the Patel title as converts from Hindu Kolis and Patidars.
Some other groups with village headsman such as Gujarati Brahmins and Gujarati Rajputs more rarely use the Patel title

Etymology
The Gujarati term paṭel, along with its cognate Marathi terms pāṭel and pāṭīl, are derived from the Prakrit word paṭṭaïl(l)a- "village headman", itself derived from the Sanskrit word paṭṭakila "tenant of royal land", a term first appearing in the Vetālapañcaviṃśatikā.

Geographical distribution
The surname historically originated in the Indian state of Gujarat, where it is amongst the most common of surnames. Today, the name is found across India, as well as in the Indian diaspora.

See also
 List of people with surname Patel
 Meet the Patels
 Patil
 Patil (surname)

References

Agricultural castes
Gujarati people
Gujarati-language surnames
Indian feudalism
Koli people
Koli titles
Occupational surnames
Social groups of Gujarat
Surnames of Indian origin