Find out how popular the last name Nadarajah is in the United States and learn more about the meaning, history, and race and ethnic origin of people in America who are named Nadarajah.

Nadarajah, like all of the last names we have data for, is identified by the U.S. Census Bureau as a surname which has more than 100 occurrences in the United States in the Decennial Census survey. The most recent statistics we have for the Nadarajah surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Nadarajah in America

Nadarajah is the 96368th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Nadarajah surname appeared 189 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 0 people would have the surname Nadarajah.

We can also compare 2010 data for Nadarajah to data from the previous census in 2000. The table below contains all of the statistics for both years in a side-by-side comparison.

The history of the last name Nadarajah

The surname Nadarajah is of Tamil origin, originating from the Indian subcontinent. It is a compound word derived from the Tamil root words "Nādān" and "Rajah." The first part, "Nādān," means "country" or "region," while the second part, "Rajah," refers to a king or ruler. The name can be interpreted to mean "the ruler of a region" or "the king of a country."

Historically, the name Nadarajah has been associated with Tamil nobility and royalty. It is believed to have emerged during the medieval period, when various Tamil kingdoms flourished in southern India and parts of present-day Sri Lanka. The earliest recorded instances of the name can be traced back to ancient inscriptions and literary works from the Tamil region.

One notable historical reference to the name Nadarajah can be found in the Chola inscriptions, which date back to the 9th century CE. These inscriptions mention individuals bearing the name, indicating its usage among the ruling class and nobility during the Chola Empire. Additionally, the name has appeared in various literary works and historical records from Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka throughout the centuries.

Among the earliest recorded examples of individuals with the surname Nadarajah is Nadarajah Pillai, a Tamil scholar and poet who lived during the 16th century in the Madurai region of Tamil Nadu. Another significant figure is Nadarajah Mudaliyar, a prominent Tamil political leader and reformist who played a pivotal role in the Sri Lankan independence movement in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Other notable individuals with the surname Nadarajah include:

1. Nadarajah Raviraj (1954-2006), a Sri Lankan Tamil politician and human rights lawyer who was assassinated in 2006.
2. Nadarajah Vasudevan (1891-1957), a Sri Lankan Tamil civil servant and writer who contributed significantly to Tamil literature.
3. Nadarajah Shanmugalingam (1926-2014), a Sri Lankan Tamil mathematician and academic who made notable contributions to the field of combinatorics.
4. Nadarajah Kuganathan (born 1961), a Sri Lankan Tamil academic and former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Jaffna.
5. Nadarajah Sivakumar (born 1966), a Sri Lankan Tamil cricketer who played for the national team in the 1990s.

The Nadarajah surname has also been associated with various place names and geographical locations in the Tamil region, such as Nadarajah Nagar, a suburb in the city of Madurai, Tamil Nadu. Additionally, there may have been variations in the spelling of the name throughout history, including Nadarajah, Nataraja, and Nadarajan, among others.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Nadarajah

We also have some data on the ancestry of people with the surname Nadarajah.

The below race categories are the modified race categories used in the Census Bureau's population estimates program. All people were categorized into six mutually exclusive racial and Hispanic origin groups:

1. White only
2. Black only
3. American Indian and Alaskan Native only
4. Asian and Pacific Islander only
5. Hispanic
6. Two or More Races

For the most recent 2010 census data, the race/ethnic origin breakdown for Nadarajah was:

Note: Any fields showing (S) means the data was suppressed for privacy so that the data does not in any way identify any specific individuals.

Since we have data from the previous census in 2000, we can also compare the values to see how the popularity of Nadarajah has changed in the 10 years between the two census surveys.

Data source

The last name data and ethnic breakdown of last names is sourced directly from the Decennial Census survey, conducted every 10 years by the United States Census Bureau.

The history and meaning of the name Nadarajah was researched and written by our team of onomatology and genealogy experts.

If you have a correction or suggestion to improve the history of Nadarajah, please contact us.

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