Paracha (Urdu: پراچہ) (Also rendered as Peracha,Piracha) is a family name in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and India.

Contrary to common belief, the word Piracha or a variant thereof, is not found in any Arabic or Persian dictionary. This word was never a part of Arabic or Persian languages at any time in history. In contrast, John Platt’s Dictionary of Urdu, Classical Hindi and English identifies Piracha as the Hindi variant of the Sanskrit adjective Prachya, meaning "eastern, a person living in the east, the eastern country, the country which lies south or east of the river Sarasvati."[1]

However, most Pirachas today, devout Muslims who hold an Arab connection sacred, believe that they are descendents of Hazrat Aziz Yemeni, a companion of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. Hazrat Aziz was a farash (Arabic: "one who spreads a carpet") to Muhammad and hence his decsendants took on the surname Farasha. During the Arab conquest of Persia (640-644 AD), Abul Aas, the son of Hazrat Aziz Yemeni, settled down in Persia and married a Persian Princess. According to myth, the Persians transcribed his surname as Paracha and that is how his successors came to be known in Persia and later in Afghanistan and the Indus Valley after the Arabs conquered these areas.