Persaud is a

Hindu Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...

surname, primarily found in

Guyana Guyana ( or ), officially the Cooperative Republic of Guyana, is a country on the northern mainland of South America. Guyana is an indigenous word which means "Land of Many Waters". The capital city is Georgetown. Guyana is bordered by the ...

Suriname Suriname (; srn, Sranankondre or ), officially the Republic of Suriname ( nl, Republiek Suriname , srn, Ripolik fu Sranan), is a country on the northeastern Atlantic coast of South America. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north ...

Fiji Fiji ( , ,; fj, Viti, ; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी, ''Fijī''), officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists ...

, South Africa, Mauritius, Trinidad and Tobago, and other parts of the

Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...

. It is derived from the Hindi surname प्रसाद which is predominantly transliterated as Prasad in India. Other variant forms include Persad, Persard, Pershard, Prasada, Prashad, Presad, and Presaud. The surname primarily originated in the Hindi Belt of India, especially in the present-day states of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, and Madhya Pradesh; it also originated in the neighboring Terai-Madhesh region of Nepal. Persaud is the most prevalent surname in

with 21,855 Guyanese persons documented to hold the name. It is the 22nd most prevalent name in Suriname. Persad is also the sixteenth most prevalent surname in Trinidad and Tobago and the other variant, Persaud, is the 431st most prevalent surname. Persaud is also the number one most popular Hindu surname in the United States, based on data from the

2010 U.S. census The United States census of 2010 was the twenty-third United States national census. National Census Day, the reference day used for the census, was April 1, 2010. The census was taken via mail-in citizen self-reporting, with enumerators servin ...

Etymology and history

The name Persaud means "Gracious gift" originally deriving from Hindi "Prasad". The name has connection to multiple

Dharmic religions Indian religions, sometimes also termed Dharmic religions or Indic religions, are the religions that originated in the Indian subcontinent. These religions, which include Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism, and Sikhism,Adams, C. J."Classification of ...

including Hinduism, Jainism and Sikhism where "Prasada" is a food that is used in religious offering.

Geographical distribution

Persaud is the most common surname in Guyana, where 1 in 35 persons hold the surname; it is also an increasingly common name in Canada, ranking 862nd, and the UK where 1 in 52,000 hold the surname. This is due to a large amount of

Indo-Caribbean Indo-Caribbeans or Indian-Caribbeans are Indian people in the Caribbean who are descendants of the Jahaji Indian indentured laborers brought by the British, Dutch, and French during the colonial era from the mid-19th century to the early 20th c ...

immigration to

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

and Europe (mainly the United Kingdom and the Netherlands).

Notable people named Persaud

Persaud

Anjulie Persaud Anjulie Persaud (born May 21, 1983), known as Anjulie, is a Canadian singer and songwriter who has released one self-titled album, and has collaborated with Diplo, Zedd, Boombox Cartel, Kelly Clarkson, Nicki Minaj, TheFatRat, and Benny Benassi, ...

(b. 1983), an Indo-Guyanese Canadian singer * Avinash Persaud (b. 1966), an Indo-Bajan businessman * Bernadette Indira Persaud (b. 1946), Indo-Guyanese painter * Bishnodat Persaud (1933-2016), a British Indo-Guyanese economist * Deborah Persaud (b. 1960), an Indo-Guyanese American virologist *

Kriskal Persaud Kriskal Persaud (born c.1974 in Berbice) is a Guyanese chess player of India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and ...

(b. 1974), an Indo-Guyanese chess player *

Lakshmi Persaud Lakshmi Persaud is a Trinidad-born, British-based writer who resides in London, England. She is the author of five novels: ''Butterfly in the Wind'' (1990), ''Sastra'' (1993), ''For the Love of My Name'' (2000), ''Raise the Lanterns High'' (2004) an ...

(b. 1939), a British Indo-Trinidadian writer * Nikhil Persaud, a British poker player *

Rajendra Persaud Rajendra 'Raj' Persaud FRCPsych (born 13 May 1963) is an English consultant psychiatrist, broadcaster and author of books about psychiatry. He is known for raising public awareness of psychiatric and mental health issues in the general media, ...

(b. 1963), a British Indo-Trinidadian/Indo-Guyanese psychiatrist * Reepu Daman Persaud (1936-2013), an Indo-Guyanese former agricultural minister of Guyana *

Robert Persaud Robert Montgomery Persaud (born 9 May 1974 in Berbice, Guyana) is the Foreign Secretary of Guyana as of 17 August 2020, and a former government minister. Biography Persaud graduated Master in Business Administration from the University of West ...

(b. 1974), Guyanese Foreign Secretary and former minister * Roxanne Persaud (b. 1966), Indian-African Guyanese American politician * Shanta Persaud, diabetes researcher and academic

Persad

* Kamla Persad-Bissessar (b. 1952), first woman to be Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago *

Ria Persad Ria Nutan Persad (born on June 18, 1974, in Trinidad and Tobago), also known as Ria Carlo, is a mathematician and a classical musician of Indian descent. She moved to the United States of America as a small child and was a child prodigy. She curr ...

(also known as Ria Persad Carlo) (born 1974), a Trinidad and Tobago mathematician, classical musician and model

Prashad

* Thara Prashad (born 1982) - singer and model

References

{{surname Indian surnames Surnames of Indian origin Hindustani-language surnames Hindu surnames Indo-Caribbean Indian diaspora in Fiji Indo-Guyanese people Indian diaspora in Suriname Indian diaspora in South Africa Indian diaspora in Mauritius Indian diaspora in Trinidad and Tobago