Raj ( hi, राज, ur, , bn, রাজ) in different contexts means "rule", "king", "ruler", "emperor" or "royalty" and "power" in the Sanskrit language families of the Indian sub-continent, including
Romanes
Romani (; also Romany, Romanes , Roma; rom, rromani ćhib, links=no) is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan ISO 639 macrolanguage, macrolanguage of the Romani people, Romani communities. According to ''Ethnologue'', seven varieties of Romani ...
, its closest Indo-European relative. The word is cognate to
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
rex.
Given name or nickname
*
Raj Ballav Koirala (born 1982), Nepalese actor
*
Raj Gupta, American business executive
*
Raj Kamal Jha
Raj Kamal Jha (born 1966) is an Indian newspaper editor and novelist writing in English. He currently serves as the Editor-in-Chief of ''The Indian Express''. He has written five novels that have been translated into more than 12 languages. His ...
(born 1966), Indian novelist and journalist
*
Raj Kapoor
Raj Kapoor (pronunciation: aːd͡ʒ kəpuːɾ born Shrishti Nath Kapoor; also known as Ranbir Raj Kapoor; 14 December 1924 2 June 1988) was an Indian actor, film director and producer, who worked in Hindi cinema. He is considered one of th ...
(1924–1988), Indian actor, director and producer
*Raj Kaul, 18th-century ancestor of Jawahar Lal Nehru
*
Raj Khosla
Raj Khosla (31 May 1925 – 9 June 1991) was one of the top director, producer and screenwriter in Hindi film industry from the 1950s to the 1980s. He was known for bringing in "neo-noir" and style in Indian cinema, and also as a "women's direc ...
(1925–1991), Indian director
*
Raj Krishna
Raj Krishna was an Indian economist who taught at the Delhi School of Economics. He is most famous for the phrase "Hindu rate of growth" which he coined for India's low rate of GDP
Gross domestic product (GDP) is a monetary measure of ...
, Indian economist
*
Raj Manhas, American educator
*
Raj Man Singh Chitrakar
Raj Man Singh Chitrakar ( ne, राजमानसिंह चित्रकार; IAST: rāja māna siṃha citrakāra) (1797 – 1865) was a mid-19th century Nepalese artist, who worked for the British and Nepalese courts producing a larg ...
, Nepalese artist
*
Raj Mohinder Singh Majitha, Indian politician
*
Raj Mukherji
Raj Mukherji is a State Assemblyman in the New Jersey Legislature, who was first elected in 2013 and represents the 33rd Legislative District. Since 2022, he serves in the Assembly as Deputy Speaker and formerly served as Majority Whip of th ...
, New Jersey lobbyist and real estate developer
*
Raj Narain
Raj Narain (23 November 1917 – 31 December 1986) was an Indian freedom fighter and politician. He won in a famous electoral malpractice case against the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, which led to her disqualification and imposition of ...
(1917–1986), Indian politician
*
Raj Pannu
Rajinder Singh "Raj" Pannu (born January 12, 1934) is a Canadians, Canadian educator and politician, who led the Alberta New Democratic Party from 2000 to 2004.
Pannu was born in Punjab, India, Punjab, India completing an undergraduate degree b ...
(born 1934), Canadian educator and politician
*
Raj Patel
Rajeev "Raj" Patel (born 1972) is a British Indian academic, journalist, activist and writer who has lived and worked in Zimbabwe, South Africa, and the United States for extended periods. He has been referred to as "the rock star of social ju ...
(born 1972), British-born academic, journalist, activist and writer
*
Rajendra Persaud (born 1963), British psychiatrist, broadcaster, and author
*
Raj Pradhan
Raj Kumar Pradhan ( ne, राज कुमार प्रधान) (born 27 April 1973) is a former Nepalese cricketer. Raj is a right-handed batsman and a leg spin bowler. He made his debut for Nepal against UAE in July 2002.
He also represe ...
, Nepalese cricketer
*Dabbala Rajagopal
Raj Reddy
Dabbala Rajagopal "Raj" Reddy (born 13 June 1937) is an Indian-American computer scientist and a winner of the Turing Award. He is one of the early pioneers of artificial intelligence and has served on the faculty of Stanford and Carnegie Mello ...
(born 1937), Indian-American pioneer in Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence
*
Raj Rajaratnam
Rajakumaran Rajaratnam (born June 15, 1957) is a Sri Lankan-American former hedge fund manager and founder of the Galleon Group, a New York-based hedge fund management firm.
On October 16, 2009, he was arrested by the FBI for insider trading ...
(born 1957), American former manager of the hedge fund Galleon Group, convicted in 2011 of insider trading
*
Raj Rajeshwari Devi
Raj Rajeshwari Devi ( ne, राज राजेश्वरी) (died 5 May 1806) was a queen consort and twice regent of Nepal. She was the Queen consort of Rana Bahadur Shah. She ruled as regent during the minority of her son Girvan Yuddha Bi ...
(died 1806), queen consort and twice queen regent of Nepal
*
Raj Singh (disambiguation) Raj Singh may refer to:
*Raj Singh I (1629–1680), Rana of Mewar the maternal uncle of Ajit Singh of Marwar
*Raj Singh II (1743–1761), son of Maharana Pratap Singh II
*Raj Singh (businessman) (born 1964), Sukhraj 'Raj' Singh, Indian businessman
...
, several people
*
Raj Thackeray
Raj Shrikant Thackeray (Marathi pronunciation: aːd͡ʒ ʈʰaːkɾeː born Swaraj Shrikant Thackeray; 14 June 1968) is an Indian politician and the founding chairperson of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), a regional political party. Raj wa ...
(born 1968), Indian politician
Surname
*
Anil Raj
Anil Raj (April 1, 1984 – November 24, 2019) was an American human rights activist who served on the board of Amnesty International. He was killed on November 24, 2019 while working on the United Nations Development Programme when the vehicl ...
(1984–2019), American human rights activist, Amnesty International board member, killed in 2019 in Kabul while working on the United Nations Development Programme
*
Besant C. Raj (1933–2018), Indian expert and writer on financial management
*
Charan Raj
Charan Raj is an Indian actor, director, film producer, and writer who works in Kannada, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Odia and Hindi movies.
Career
Charan Raj is a versatile actor who is popular for his villainy and character roles in South Indian ...
(born 1958), Indian film actor, director, music director, film producer, and writer
*
Jagdish Raj
Jagdish Raj Khurana (1928 – 28 July 2013) was a Bollywood actor who holds a Guinness World Record for being the most type-cast actor. He played the role of a police inspector in 144 films.
Early life and career
He was born in 1928 in the tow ...
(1928–2013), Bollywood actor who holds a Guinness World Record for being the most typecast actor
*
K. N. Raj
Kakkadan Nandanath Rajan (13 May 1924 – 10 February 2010) was an Indian economist. He is popularly known as K. N. Raj. He played an important role in India's planned development, drafting sections of India's first Five Year Plan, specifically ...
(1924–2010), Indian economist
*Maria
Venus Raj
Maria Venus Bayonito Raj (; ; born July 7, 1988) is an Filipino-Indian actress, model and beauty pageant titleholder who was crowned Binibining Pilipinas 2010, Binibining Pilipinas Universe 2010. She represented the Philippines at the Miss Univ ...
(born 1988), Filipino beauty queen, TV personality, model, and actress
*
Mithali Raj
Mithali Dorai Raj (born 3 December 1982) is an Indian cricketer and a former captain of the India women's national cricket team from 2004 to 2022. Mithali is the highest run-scorer in women's international cricket and is considered one of the ...
(born 1982), Indian cricketer
*
Prakash Raj
Prakash Raj (born Prakash Rai; 26 March 1965) is an Indian actor, film director, producer, television presenter, and politician. Known for his works in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Hindi, and Malayalam-language films, he is the recipient of several ...
or Raj (born 1965), Indian actor and producer
Fictional characters
*
Raj Koothrappali
Rajesh "Raj" Ramayan Koothrappali, Ph.D. is a fictional character on the CBS television series ''The Big Bang Theory'', portrayed by British actor Kunal Nayyar. He is one of four characters in the show, alongside Howard Wolowitz, Sheldon Coope ...
, on the American sitcom ''The Big Bang Theory''
*
Raj King, played by Aatif Nawaz in the British web series ''
Corner Shop Show
''Corner Shop Show'' is a British comedy drama
Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a gen ...
''
*Roger "Raj" Thomas, on the American TV series ''
What's Happening!!
''What's Happening!!'' is an American sitcom television series that aired on ABC from August 5, 1976, until April 28, 1979, premiering as a summer series. Due to other shows being cancelled across the network, and good ratings and reviews from ...
'' and ''
What's Happening Now!!
''What's Happening Now!!'' is an American sitcom sequel to the original ABC 1976–79 sitcom ''What's Happening!!'' focusing on its main characters as adults. It aired in first-run broadcast syndication from September 7, 1985 until March 26, 1988 ...
''
*Raj, the neurotic Indian elephant on the American cartoon series ''
Camp Lazlo
''Camp Lazlo'' is an American animated television series created by Joe Murray for Cartoon Network. The series follows Lazlo, an anthropomorphic spider monkey that goes to a camp called "Camp Kidney", a Boy Scout-like summer camp in Pimpleback M ...
''
*Raj, the shop assistant who appears in every one of ''
David Walliams
David Edward Williams (born 20 August 1971), known professionally as David Walliams, is an English comedian, actor, writer, and television personality. He is best known for his work with Matt Lucas on the BBC sketch comedy series '' Little B ...
'' novels except ''Awful Auntie''
{{Given name, type=both
Indian masculine given names
Lists of people by nickname
Surnames of Indian origin