Mudaliar (alternatively spelled: Muthaliar, Mudali, Muthali, or Moodley ) is a

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, nativ ...

title and surname. As title, it was historically given to high-ranking military officers and their descendants. The surname is most prevalent among Tamils from

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a States and union territories of India, state in southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of India ...

and

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

. Descendants of Tamil colonial migrants also bears variants of the name in countries such as

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

, and else where in the

Tamil diaspora The Tamil diaspora refers to descendants of the Tamil immigrants who emigrated from their native lands (Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Sri Lanka) to other parts of the world. They are found primarily in Malaysia, Arab states of the Persian Gulf, ...

. The title was primarily used by the communities like the Agamudaiyar,

Karaiyar Karaiyar is a Sri Lankan Tamil caste found mainly on the northern and eastern coastal areas of Sri Lanka, and globally among the Tamil diaspora. They are traditionally a seafaring community that is engaged in fishing, shipment and seaborne t ...

Sengunthar Sengunthar (), also known as the Kaikolar and Senguntha Mudaliyar is a Tamil caste commonly found in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and also in some other parts of South India and the neighboring country Sri Lanka. They were traditional weavers ...

and Vellalars. Other communities adopted it as means to present themselves as superior to the social status which they actually held.

Etymology

The title is derived from the Tamil word ''muthal'' or "muthar" meaning ''first'' with the suffix ''yaar'' denoting ''people''. The title is used in the same sense as simply meaning ''headman''.

References

{{reflist Indian surnames

Etymology

See also

References