Desai ( Hindi: देसाई) () is an Indian administrative, princely or honorary title and

surname In some cultures, a surname, family name, or last name is the portion of one's personal name that indicates one's family, tribe or community. Practices vary by culture. The family name may be placed at either the start of a person's full name ...

Etymology

The word is derived from the Sanskrit ''deśa'' (country) and ''svāmī'' (lord).

Desai as a title

Desai was a title given to

feudal Feudalism, also known as the feudal system, was the combination of the legal, economic, military, cultural and political customs that flourished in Middle Ages, medieval Europe between the 9th and 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a wa ...

lords, and others who were granted a village or group of villages in

Maharashtra Maharashtra (; , abbr. MH or Maha) is a states and union territories of India, state in the western India, western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. Maharashtra is the List of states and union te ...

, Gujarat and North Karnataka. The title Desai should not be associated with a particular religion or caste, though a Desai would use the title of Rao or Rai or Raje as a suffix to his name denoting he is a king of those villages, The "Desai" title was given by

Maratha emperors The Maratha rulers, belonging to the various dynasties, from the early 17th century to the early 18th century, built and ruled the Maratha Empire on the Indian subcontinent. It was established by the Chhatrapati (the Maratha emperor) in 1670s. S ...

, Mughal emperors and by the

Deccan sultanates The Deccan sultanates were five Islamic late-medieval Indian kingdoms—on the Deccan Plateau between the Krishna River and the Vindhya Range—that were ruled by Muslim dynasties: namely Ahmadnagar, Berar, Bidar, Bijapur, and Golconda. Th ...

. * In Maharashtra, the title ''Desai'' is conferred to feudal lords and village council members. Most of them are either

Deshastha Brahmin Deshastha Brahmin is a Hindu Brahmin subcaste mainly from the Indian state of Maharashtra and northern area of the state of Karnataka. Other than these states, according to authors K. S. Singh, Gregory Naik and Pran Nath Chopra, Deshastha Br ...

s, Marathas, Dhangars, Saraswat Brahmins and Karhade Brahmins. * Desai's were the rulers of Kudal ( Sindhudurg) in

. *In Gujarat, ''Desai'' is honoured to Anavil Brahmin, Khedaval Brahimins, Vaishnav Vanik and Patidars caste people. The title was also given to feudal lords and revenue collectors Desai, or a loftier compound, was a rare title for rulers of a few

princely state A princely state (also called native state or Indian state) was a nominally sovereign entity of the British Raj, British Indian Empire that was not directly governed by the British, but rather by an Indian ruler under a form of indirect rule, ...

s, notably: * Raja Sar Desai in the Maratha

Savantvadi State Savantvadi State, also spelt Sawantwadi ruled by the Sawant Bhonsale dynasty was one of the non-salute Maratha princely states during the British Raj. It was the only state belonging to the Kolaba Agency under the Bombay Presidency, which became ...

from 1627 until the adoption of "Raja Bahadur" in 1763. *Desai Shri in Patdi (the former Viramgam State), in Eastern Kathiawar, where Desai was also the name of the ruling family, which belongs to the Desai clan of Kadwa Patidar.

Desai as a surname

Desai as a surname is used by

, Karhade Brahmin, Anavil Brahmin, Khedaval Brahmin, Rabari, Leva Patel, Patidar, Maratha, Saraswat Brahmin, Bania and Lingayat communities of

, Gujarat and Karnataka.

Individual people

Notable individuals with the surname Desai include: ; Public officers * Gopaldas Ambaidas Desai – politician; former Prince of Dhasa *

Babubhai Desai Babubhai Desai is a Member of Legislative assembly and a Best MLA Award Winner of Gujarat (India) from Maktupur, Mehsana (Gujarat) Kankrej constituency An electoral district, also known as an election district, legislative district, votin ...

- Ex MLA of

kankrej The Kankrej (Hindi: कंकरेज) is an Indian breed of zebuine cattle. It originates from the arid region of the Rann of Kutch in the state of Gujarat, and in neighbouring Rajasthan. Under the name Kankaraj, it is also present in Tharpar ...

* Kantilal Thakoredas Desai – second Chief Justice of Gujarat *

Kevit Desai Kevit Subash Desai is the Principal Secretary (PS) in the State Department of East Africa Community (EAC) in the Ministry of East Africa Community and Regional Development. Previously PS of Ministry of education, state department of Vocational and ...

- Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Education state department for Vocational and Technical Training, Kenya * Krishna Desai – CPI politician * Morarji Desai – Prime Minister of India (1977–79) *

Mahadev Desai Mahadev Haribhai Desai (1 January 1892 – 15 August 1942) was an Indian independence activist, scholar and writer best remembered as Mahatma Gandhi's personal secretary. He has variously been described as "Gandhi's Boswell, a Plato to G ...

– Secretary to Mahatma Gandhi *

S. T. Desai Sunderlal Trikamlal Desai (26 January 1901 – 12 April 1992) was the 1st Chief Justice of Gujarat, serving from 1 May 1960 until his retirement on 25 January 1961. He later practiced as senior counsel in the Supreme Court of India till 1988. I ...

– first Chief Justice of Gujarat * Haridas Viharidas Desai - Diwan of Junagadh state (1883–95) * Bhimsen Venkatrao Desai - Politician; Member of the 7th and 8th Lok Sabha representing the Raichur constituency of Karnataka List of members of the 7th Lok Sabha#Karnataka * Shamburaj Shivajirao Desai- State Minister Of Home Affairs, Maharashtra, Currently Serving His 4th Term As MLA in Maharashtra Assembly ;Arts, sciences and business * Anita Desai – Author; mother of author Kiran Desai *

Bhairavi Desai Bhairavi Desai (pronounced BY-ra-vee They-SIGH) is a founding member of the New York Taxi Workers Alliance, a Trade union, union representing approximately 15,000 taxi drivers in New York City. She is known as a progressivism, progressive social a ...

– American

labor union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ( ...

leader * Bindu Desai – Actress *

C. D. Desai Choonilal Devkaran Nanjee (1890–1948), also known as C. D. Desai, was a twentieth-century Indian commodity trader, financier, and philatelist. Financial career Desai was a senior partner in the firm of Messrs. Devkaran Nanjee and Sons, ...

– Banker and philatelist *

Ebrahim Desai Ebrahim Desai (16 January 1963 – 15 July 2021) was a South African Muslim scholar and jurist who established the Darul Iftaa Mahmudiyyah, the Askimam fatawa portal and served as the senior professor of hadith at Madrasah In'aamiyyah. He was a ...

– Islamic scholar * Kiran Desai – Author; 2006

Man Booker Prize The Booker Prize, formerly known as the Booker Prize for Fiction (1969–2001) and the Man Booker Prize (2002–2019), is a literary prize awarded each year for the best novel written in English and published in the United Kingdom or Ireland. ...

winner *

Kishwar Desai Kishwar Desai (''née'' Rosha) (born 1 December 1956) is an Indian author and columnist. Her first novel, ''Witness the Night'', won the Costa Book Award in 2010 for Best First Novel and has been translated into over 25 languages. It was also sh ...

– Author * Manmohan Desai – Director *

Mavjibhai Desai Mavji Desai is a Member of Gujarat Legislative Assembly from Dhanera- Banaskantha, Chairman of APMC Deesa, Former Vice-Chairman of Banas Dairy, and the member of Bhartiya Janta Party. Early life He was born on 3 October 1971 in Baiwada, ...

– Vice Chairman of

Banas Dairy Banas Dairy ( gu, બનાસ ડેરી) (Banaskantha District Cooperative Milk Federation, Palanpur) is a division of Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation which is under the ownership of Ministry of Cooperation, Government of Gu ...

* Meghnad Desai, Baron Desai – economist *

Mihir A. Desai Mihir A. Desai is an Indian-American economist currently the Mizuho Financial Group Professor of Finance at Harvard Business School and Professor at Harvard Law School. He graduated from Brown University with a bachelor's degree of history and ...

- American economist and professor at

Harvard Business School Harvard Business School (HBS) is the graduate business school of Harvard University, a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. It is consistently ranked among the top business schools in the world and offers a large full-time MBA p ...

and

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (Harvard Law or HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest continuously operating law school in the United States. Each class ...

* Nitin Chandrakant Desai – Art director *

Padma Desai Padma Desai (born October 12, 1931) is an Indian-American development economist who was born and studied in India before completing a PhD at Harvard in 1960. She is the Gladys and Roland Harriman Professor Emerita of comparative economic systems ...

– American economist and professor at Columbia University *

Ramanlal Desai Ramanlal Vasantlal Desai (12 May 1892 – 20 September 1954) was an Indian Gujarati language writer. He is considered as an important figure of the Gujarati literature as well as Gujarati novel writing. He wrote 27 novels, among which, ''Bharel ...

- Gujarati writer * Ranjit Desai –

Marathi Marathi may refer to: *Marathi people, an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group of Maharashtra, India *Marathi language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Marathi people *Palaiosouda, also known as Marathi, a small island in Greece See also * * ...

writer *

Salil Desai Salil Desai is an Indian novelist who writes murder mysteries based in Pune, India. His debut novel, ''The Body in the Back Seat'', which was published in May 2011, was acclaimed as "the best murder mystery by an Indian author so far" by The Trib ...

– Author *

Sapan Desai Sapan Sharankishor Desai (born April 6, 1979) is an American physician, and the owner of Surgisphere, originally a textbook marketing company that claimed to provide large sets of medical data. This data and the research using it has been discredi ...

– American physician; publisher and discredited researcher *

Umedram Lalbhai Desai (Rao Sahib) Umedram Lalbhai Desai (1869–1930) was a medical doctor in India during the time of the British Raj. His medical qualifications included LRCP and LRCS (Edinburgh), LM and LFPS (Glasgow) 1894, MD (Brussels) 1895, MB Chb (University Co ...

– Physician ; Culture & Sports * Anoop Desai – American singer * Gunwant Desai – Indian cricketer *

K. R. Desai Kantilal Ranchhodji Desai (27 January 1932 – 23 July 2016) was an Indian cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, e ...

- Cricketer; philanthropist; educator * Prachi Desai – Actress * Ramakant Desai – Cricketer; India's first fast bowler *

Rashami Desai Shivani Desai (born 13 February 1986), professionally known as Rashami Desai, is an Indian television actress. Desai is the recipient of several accolades including two Indian Television Academy Awards and Gold Awards. She has established hers ...

– Actress * Ravish Desai – Actor * Renu Desai – Actress * Satyaki "Sattu" Desai – Environmental officer * Sean Desai - American football coach; Defensive Coordinator for the

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) North division. The Bears have won nine NF ...

Subhash Desai Subhash Desai (born 12 July 1942) is an Indian politician and leader of Shiv Sena from Maharashtra. He is a member of Maharashtra Legislative Council. He had represented Goregaon (Vidhan Sabha constituency) in 1990, 2004 and 2009. Desai took ch ...

–

Shiv Sena Shiv Sena ( IAST: ''Śiva Sēnā'') () was a right-wing to far-right Marathi regionalist and Hindu ultranationalist political party in India founded in 1966 by cartoonist Bal Thackeray. Originally emerging from nativist movements in Bom ...

leader * Tina Desai – Actress * Rajdeep Sardesai - News Anchor

References

{{surname Indian feudalism Indian surnames Hindu surnames Gujarati-language surnames