Menon (title)
Menon (IPA: [meːnoːn]) is a surname common amongst the Nairs in the South Indian state of Kerala. Surname used by Nair community in south Kerala, Pillai, have the same status. The name "Menon" might have derived from "Menavan", which means "scribe" in Malayalam/Tulu. A similar surname, "Menava", is used by Bunt community of Tulu Nadu, is also derived from this root.
Menons served as prime and cabinet ministers of the royal court, commanders of royal armies, and administrative officers of the royal court, and later emerged as literary and cultural figures in Kerala, and some of the aristocratic Menon families only married from Royal families of central Kerala.
Remark: Menon is also the name of a socratic dialogue by Plato in which Socrates demonstrates that knowledge is innate. In English it is referred to as Meno.
Famous people
- M. G. Ramachandran, Former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister & Actor
- Shashi Tharoor (Former U.N. Under-Secretary & Writer)
- K.P.S Menon Sr. & Jr. (Ambassadors)
- Shoba Menon of Shoba Group (Industrialist)
- Dr Unny Menon Professor Industrial Engineering California Polytechnic State University San Luis Obispo
- Mini Menon, Miss India second runner-up 1996 & News Anchor
- Dr. Shanker Menon, Professor and International Consultant, Sarasota, Florida, U.S.A.
- Thottekat Achuta Menon, Dewan of erstwhile Royal Cochin
- Thotekkat Govinda Menon, second Dewan of erstwhile Royal Cochin
- O.Chandu Menon - Novelist
- Karimpatta Achutha Menon, Judge
- Prof. Sridhara Menon - Historian, Kerala.
- James Menon Fastest American 10,000 Meter Runner 1998 with time 28:15
- Balachandra Menon, Film Maker
- Dr. N. R. Madhava Menon, educationist
- P. N. Menon, film maker
- Vallathol Narayana Menon, Famous poet
- Vailoppilly Sreedhara Menon, Famous poet
- V. K. Krishna Menon, former cabinet minister of India
- Bhadra Menon, Writer
- G. A. Menon, Industrialist
- C.Achutha Menon- Former Chief Minister of Kerala
- Vinod C. Menon, Member of the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA)
- Kayarat Chandrasekhara Menon - Freedom fighter
- Panambilly Govinda Menon, former prime minister of Travancore-Cochin State
- Revathi Menon, Film Actress/Director
- Prof. Mambalikalathyl Govindan Kutty Menon, Scientist & central minister
- Justice Rajendra Menon, High Court of Madhya Pradesh
- N.K. Menon, Industrialist. MD of Colinz Pharmaceuticals. Mumbai., INDIA
- Kumara Padma Sivasankara Menon, ambassador from India
- Mambalikalathyl Sarada Menon - Noted Psychiatrist
- Balakrishna Menon (now Swami Chinmayananda)- modern day Hindu guru and founder of Chinmaya Mission
- Unni Menon- Singer
- Kallyani Menon- Singer
- Gautham Menon- Noted film maker
- Govind Menon- Bollywood film maker
- Rajeev Menon- Famous camera man
- Capt Lakshmi(INA)
- Subhashini Ali(Former MP,daughter of Capt Lakshmi)
- Ammu Sawaminathan(freedom fighter)
- Mrinalini Sarabhai(Dancer)
- Prof. David K. Menon MD PhD FRCP FRCA FmedSci Professor of anesthesia for cambridge university. lectures on brain damage and imaging also sometime consultant of GSK and Genentech.
- Dr.Krishna E.P.Menon, Industrialist & Medical Research Scientist, invented and patended many medicines