Pai (surname) - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Pai is a common surname

Surname

A surname is a name added to a given name and is part of a personal name. In many cases, a surname is a family name. Many dictionaries define "surname" as a synonym of "family name"...

amongst the Gowd Saraswat Brahmins of India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

. Pai is known to be a prakrit

Prakrit

Prakrit is the name for a group of Middle Indic, Indo-Aryan languages, derived from Old Indic dialects. The word itself has a flexible definition, being defined sometimes as, "original, natural, artless, normal, ordinary, usual", or "vernacular", in contrast to the literary and religious...

of Pati or "Lord

Lord

Lord is a title with various meanings. It can denote a prince or a feudal superior . The title today is mostly used in connection with the peerage of the United Kingdom or its predecessor countries, although some users of the title do not themselves hold peerages, and use it 'by courtesy'...

". An unlikely source is leg or foot or one amassed wealth. Pai may have come from Appaya meaning elderbrother according to Poet B.B. Borkar.

Families with the surname Pai, are Saraswat Brahmins who speak the Konkani language. The common person who had not amassed wealth or power was known as Pai.Their job was menial in maintaining ledgers and doing odd jobs. The Pai were mainly ledger keepers.

The surname Pai comes from the word "Prakit" or Lord. Families with the last name Pai are Saraswat Brahmins. It is believed that GSBs descended from Kashmir. They lived by the Saraswati River but were forced to moved when there was a drought. These families branched out to Punjab, Gujarat, Goa, Maharashtra and various other locales where they continued to live. Those in Goa were once again forced to relocate to regions such as Mumbai, Coastal Karnataka & Kerala due to the Portuguese who embarked on their land. Their ancestors could be the so called "Aryans", who are said to have crossed over into Northern India from countries extending as far as Eastern Europe and Central Asia.

The name is also in use among some Konkani Catholics who trace their ancestry to the Goud Saraswat Brahmins of Goa

Goa

Goa , a former Portuguese colony, is India's smallest state by area and the fourth smallest by population. Located in South West India in the region known as the Konkan, it is bounded by the state of Maharashtra to the north, and by Karnataka to the east and south, while the Arabian Sea forms its...

People

Ammembal Subba Rao Pai
Ammembal Subba Rao Pai
Sri. Ammembal Subba Rao Pai was a leading lawyer of Mangalore, India. He was the founder of Canara Bank, now one of India's leading banks, and Canara High School in Mangalore.-Life & Times:...
(Veera) Vithal Pai Kundapura, freedom fighter and pre-independence Congress leader of Kundapura
Anant Pai (1937-2011), noted educationist and creator of Indian comics
K. K. Pai, president of T.M.A. Pai
M. Govinda Pai
M. Govinda Pai
Manjeshwar Govinda Pai , also known as Rastrakavi Govinda Pai, was a Kannada poet. He was awarded the Rashtrakavi title by the Madras Government...

(1883–1963)
Dr. T. M. A. Pai
T. M. A. Pai
Dr. Tonse Madhav Ananth Pai, , , a Goud Saraswat Brahmin was an Indian doctor, educationist, banker and philanthropist, most well known for building the university town of Manipal, Karnataka, India....
Alke Shantaram Pai, revered freedom fighter, communist and philathropist
Tonse Ramesh Upendra Pai
Tonse Ramesh Upendra Pai
Tonse Ramesh Upendra Pai, son of Upendra Ananth Pai, recipient of Karnataka Rajyotsava Award 1998. Was the Chairman of Maha Rashtra Apex Corporation Ltd. He was also the Director of several Joint stock Companies, including Reliance Industries Ltd....

(b. ?), Chairman of Maha Rashtra Apex Corporation Ltd
T.A. Pai (1922-1981)

People

See also