Pillai (surname)

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.