Pillai (surname)
Appearance
Pillai or Pillay is a surname found among the Malayalam and Tamil-speaking people of India and Sri Lanka, and among their diaspora.
Notable people with this surname or its variants include:
- A. R. Pillai, Indian freedom fighter
- Ananda Ranga Pillai (1709–61), dubash in the service of French East India Company
- Ariranga Pillay (born 1945), former Chief Justice and briefly Acting President of Mauritius
- Arumuka Navalar, born as Kandar Arumugam Pillai, Hindu reformer
- B. Ravi Pillai is an Indian entrepreneur. He is the founder and managing director of RP Group of Companies.
- Candice Pillay, born 1981, singer and songwriter
- Changampuzha Krishna Pillai, Malayalam poet
- Chempakaraman Pillai (1891–1934), freedom fighter from Travancore of Tamil descent
- Devasahayam Pillai (1712–52), Indian court official, controversial convert to Christianity
- Dhanraj Pillay (born 1968), Indian hockey player
- G. P. Pillai, barrister, established the first English newspaper in South India
- G. Parameswaran Pillai (1890–1963), Dewan of Travancore
- Gooty Kesava Pillai (1860–1933), Indian journalist and freedom-fighter. Delegate from Anantapur, Andhra Pradesh at the first session of the Indian National Congress.
- K. C. Pillai, Doctor of Divinity, (1900–70) a Bishop-at-large of the Indian Orthodox Church, Antiochean Succession, Chennai (Madras), India.
- K. C. Sreedharan Pillai (1920–85), Indian mathematician
- K. Perumal Pillai
- K. Thamboosamy Pillay (1850–1902), a prominent member of the Tamil community in British Malaya.
- Kavimani Desigavinayagam Pillai, Indian freedom fighter, poet
- L. D. Swamikannu Pillai, Indian astronomer, Speaker of Tamil Nadu Assembly
- M. P. Narayana Pillai, a Malayalam writer
- Manonmaniam Sundaram Pillai, eminent writer in Tamil literature; his poem "Niraarum Kadal Udutha" is the official Tamil Anthem
- Maraimalai Adigal (Nagai Vedachalam Pillai) eminent Tamil orator and writer started Pure Tamil movement Tanittamil Iyakkam.
- Marimutthu Pillai, musician
- Maruthanayagam Pillai (1725–64), Indian soldier and administrator also known as Muhammed Yusuf Khan.
- Murali Pillai, Singaporean politician of Indian descent
- Nadakkal Parameswaran Pillai (born 1931), leader of Indian Coffee House movement
- Naraina Pillai, a social entrepreneur and businessman
- Navanethem Pillay, South African Judge, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights
- Nisha Pillai, Indian-born journalist and BBC news anchor
- P. Govinda Pillai, a Communist Party of India leader
- Rao Bahadur P. I. Chinnaswamy Pillai, first Municipal Chairman of Palakkad, Kerala, India
- Palani Subramaniam Pillai (1908–62), Carnatic music percussionist
- Paravoor T. K. Narayana Pillai (1890–1971), Indian freedom fighter
- Pattom A. Thanu Pillai (1885–1970), Second Chief Minister of unified Kerala, Communist leader
- Pradani Muthirulappa Pillai, minister of Ramnad during the reign of Muthuramalinga Sethupathy
- R. Balakrishna Pillai (born 1935), former State minister in Kerala
- Rajmohan Pillai (born 1964), Indian businessman
- Rhea Pillai, Indian model
- Sreekanteswaram Padmanabha Pillai, lexicographer
- Subbayya Sivasankaranarayana Pillai (1901–50), Indian mathematician
- Swadeshabhimani Ramakrishna Pillai, journalist and political activist. Translated Karl Marx's biography into Malayalam
- T. S. Ramasamy Pillai (1918–2006), Freedom-fighter, politician and former Member of the Legislative Assembly (India)
- Thakazhi Sivasankara Pillai (1912–99), Malayalam author
- V. N. Rajasekharan Pillai, current Vice Chancellor of Indira Gandhi National Open University IGNOU
- V. O. Chidambaram Pillai (1872–1936), Indian freedom fighter, popularly known as V.O.C. and as Kappalottiya Tamilan
- Venkatarama Ramalingam Pillai, (AKA Namakkal Kavignar Ramalingam Pillai) poet and freedom fighter.