List of Tamil people

Last updated

This is a list of notable Tamils .

Ancient Kings and Rulers

Tamil dynasties

Other royal families

Governor-Generals, Presidents and Vice Presidents

Prime Ministers

Multinational positions

Independence movement

Indian independence movement

Independence movements in other countries

Contributions to Tamil people

Governors of states

Lieutenant governors of union territories

No.Name
(Birth–Death)
Union territoryTerm of officeAppointed by
Assumed officeLeft officeTime in office
1 Tamilisai Soundararajan
(1961–)
Puducherry 16 February 202118 March 20243 years, 31 days Ram Nath Kovind
2 C. P. Radhakrishnan
(1957–)
Puducherry 22 March 20246 August 2024137 days Droupadi Murmu

Chief Ministers

Deputy Chief Ministers

Union Ministers

Political leaders outside of India

Governors of the Reserve Bank of India

Political families

Tamil Nadu

C. Rajagopalachari family

C.P. Ramaswami Iyer family

D. Jayakumar family

  • D. Jayakumar (1960–), Former Speaker of Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly
    • J. Jayavardhan (1987–), Former Member of Parliament (Lok Sabha); son of Jayakumar

E. V. K. Sampath family

  • E. V. K. Sampath (1926–1977), Former Member of Parliament (Lok Sabha)
    • E. V. K. S. Elangovan (1948–), Former Union Minister of State in the Ministry of Textiles; son of E. V. K. Sampath

G. K. Moopanar family

  • G. K. Moopanar (1931–2001), Former Member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha)
    • G. K. Vasan (1964–), Former Union Minister of Shipping; son of Moopanar

H. Kumari Ananthan family

M. Bhakthavatsalam family

  • M. Bhakthavatsalam (1897–1987), Former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu
    • Jayanthi Natarajan (1954–), Former Union Minister of Environment and Forests; granddaughter of Bhakthavatsalam

M. Karunanidhi family

  • M. Karunanidhi (1924–2018), Former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu
    • M. K. Alagiri (1951–), Former Union Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers; son of Karunanidhi
    • M. K. Stalin (1953–), Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu; son of Karunanidhi
    • Kanimozhi Karunanidhi (1968–), Member of Parliament (Lok Sabha); daughter of Karunanidhi
    • Murasoli Maran (1934–2003), Former Union Minister of Commerce and Industry; nephew of Karunanidhi
      • Kalanithi Maran (1964–), Founder of the Sun Group; grand-nephew of Karunanidhi
      • Dayanidhi Maran (1966–), Former Union Minister of Communications and Information Technology; grand-nephew of Karunanidhi

An O. Panneerselvam family

  • O. Panneerselvam (1951–), Former Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu
    • P. Ravindhranath (1980–), Member of Parliament (Lok Sabha); son of Panneerselvam

P. Subbarayan family

P. T. Rajan family

Sri Lanka

Arumugampillai Coomaraswamy family

Arunachalam Ponnambalam family

S. Pararajasingam family

V. P. Ganeshan family

  • V. P. Ganeshan, founder of the Democratic Workers' Congress, film producer and actor
    • Mano Ganesan (1959–), Member of Parliament, Provincial Councillor, son of V.P. Ganeshan
    • Praba Ganesan (1964–), Member of Parliament, Provincial Councillor, son of V.P. Ganeshan

Savumiamoorthy Thondaiman family

G. G. Ponnambalam family

Arumugam Canagaratnam family

Military leaders

Army

Air Force

Independence Movement

Award winners

Nobel Prize winners

Fields Medal

Bharat Ratna

The Bharat Ratna, Highest Civilian Award of the Republic of India

Contents

Padma Vibhushan

The Padma Vibhushan is India's second highest civilian honour.

Padma Bhushan

The Padma Bhushan is India's third highest civilian honour.

Padma Shri

The Padma Shri is India's fourth highest civilian honour.

Ramon Magsaysay Award

The Ramon Magsaysay Award was established in 1957 in memory of Ramon Magsaysay, the late president of the Philippines. It is often considered to be Asia's Nobel Prize.

Dadasaheb Phalke Award

The Dadasaheb Phalke Award is India's highest award in cinema, given annually by the Government of India for lifetime contribution to Indian cinema. It was instituted in 1969, the birth centenary year of Dadasaheb Phalke, considered as the father of Indian cinema.

Param Vir Chakra

The Param Vir Chakra is India's highest military honor.

Sahitya Akademi Award

Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award

The Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award is India's highest sporting honor.

Jnanpith Award

The Jnanpith Award is India's highest literary honor

Sangeet Natak Akademi Award

Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship

Guinness World Records

Arjuna Award

The Arjuna Award was instituted in 1961 by the Government of India to recognize outstanding achievement in national sports.

Oscar awards

Social workers

Criminals

Business and administration

Tamil billionaires

Tamil executives and business people

Educators

Philanthropists

Diplomats

Journalists and broadcasters

Scientists

Social anthropologists

Academicians

Agriculture

Botanists

Computer science

Finance and economics

Law

Mathematics

Medicine

Engineering (scientists)

Zoologists

Music

Tamil music

Carnatic music

Film music

Western music

Other

Dance

Cinema

Directors

Actors

Actresses

Music composers

See: Film music

In Hollywood

Other entertainers

Sports and games

Athletics

Basketball

Boxing

  • Venkatesan Devarajan was the second Indian to win a medal at the Boxing World Cup after Pu Zoramthanga (boxer), from Mizoram. He is from Chennai, India. He was awarded the Arjuna Award in 1995. He competed in the men's bantamweight event at the 1992 Summer Olympics. V. Devarajan has been a fighter on and off the boxing ring. He broke new ground by becoming the first Indian to win a World Cup medal on foreign soil in 1994.
  • Kalaivani Srinivasan is a female boxer from Tamil Nadu who won a silver medal at the Indian Seniors National Boxing Championship in Vijayanagar in 2019. She was named the ‘Most Promising Boxer’ at the Indian National Boxing Championship in 2019. She later won a gold medal at the South Asian Games in Kathmandu, Nepal in 2019.

Carrom

Volleyball

Chess

Cricket

India

Other countries

Football

Hockey

Mountain climbing

Racing

Squash

Tennis

Entertainers

Religion and spirituality

Tamil literature

Classical literature

Religious literature

Shaivism

Vaishnavism

Islam

Jainism

Christianity

Modern literature

India

Other countries

Others

Modern art

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">M. Karunanidhi</span> Indian politician, former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu

Muthuvel Karunanidhi was an Indian writer and politician who served as Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu for almost two decades over five terms between 1969 and 2011. He is popularly referred to as Kalaignar (Artist) and Mutthamizh Arignar for his contributions to Tamil literature. He had the longest intermittent tenure as Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu with 6,863 days in office. He was also a long-standing leader of the Dravidian movement and ten-time president of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam political party. Karunanidhi has the record of never losing an election to the Tamil Nadu Assembly, having won 13 times since his first victory in 1957. Before entering politics, he worked in the Tamil film industry as a screenwriter. He also made contributions to Tamil literature, having written stories, plays, novels, and a multiple-volume memoir. Karunanidhi died on 7 August 2018 at Kauvery Hospital in Chennai after a series of prolonged, age-related illnesses.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">T. N. Seshagopalan</span> Musical artist

Madurai Thirumalai Nambi Seshagopalan is a noted Carnatic singer, musician and composer. He was awarded the Madras Music Academy's Sangeetha Kalanidhi in 2006. As well as being a master of the veena and harmonium, he is an exponent of harikatha.

Pillai or Pillay, meaning "Child of King" (Prince) or "Child", is a surname found among the Malayalam and Tamil-speaking people of India and Sri Lanka.

Reddiar is a Telugu speaking land owning, merchants, agricultural social group in Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ceylon Workers' Congress</span> Political party in Sri Lanka

The Ceylon Workers' Congress (CWC) is a political party in Sri Lanka that has traditionally represented Sri Lankan Tamils of Indian origin working in the plantation sector of the economy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chola Nadu</span> Region of Tamil Nadu

Chola Nadu is a cultural region of the Tamil Nadu state in southern India. It encompasses the lower reaches of the Kaveri River and its delta, and formed the cultural homeland and political base of the Chola Dynasty which ruled large parts of South India and parts of Sri Lanka between the 9th and 13th centuries CE. Uraiyur served as the early Chola capital, then medieval Cholas shifted to Thanjavur and later cholas king Rajendra Chola I moved the capital to Gangaikonda Cholapuram in Ariyalur in the 11th century CE.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">G. G. Ponnambalam</span> Sri Lankan Tamil politician (1901–1977)

Ganapathipillai Gangaser Ponnambalam was a Ceylon Tamil lawyer, politician and cabinet minister. He was the founder and leader of the All Ceylon Tamil Congress (ACTC), the first political party to represent the Ceylon Tamils.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">T. M. Soundararajan</span> Indian Carnatic musician and singer

Thoguluva Meenatchi Iyengar Soundararajan, popularly known as TMS, was an Indian Carnatic musician and a playback singer in Tamil cinema for over six and a half decades. He sang over 10,138 songs from 3,162 films, including devotional, semi-classical, Carnatic, classical and light music songs. He gave classical concerts starting in 1943.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1971 Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly election</span> 1971 legislative assembly elections in Tamil Nadu

The fifth legislative assembly election of Tamil Nadu was held in March 1971. Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam was re-elected, after its first victory under the leadership of C N Annadurai in 1967. This was the first time M. Karunanidhi, contested as the leader of DMK party won the election, since he assumed Chief Ministership for the first time, after the death of C N Annadurai. Karunanidhi had emerged successfully in the leadership crisis (having supported by M. G. Ramachandran, against Nedunchezhiyan, which ensued after the death of C. N. Annadurai. The main opposition party in the election was Indian National Congress led by K. Kamaraj, whereas the Indian National Congress faction aligned with Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam.

Sri Lankan Tamils in India mainly refer to Tamil people of Sri Lankan origin in India and non-resident Sri Lankan Tamil. They are partly who migrated to India and their descendants and mostly refugees from Sri Lanka because of the concluded Sri Lankan Civil War. In general socio economically they are living below poverty line, except few people who settled in India during early times, rich businessmen, and professionals. In Tamil Nadu they are also known as Ceylon Tamils or Jaffna Tamils.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ponnambalam–Coomaraswamy family</span>

The Ponnambalam–Coomaraswamy family is a Sri Lankan Tamil Hindu family that was prominent in politics in former British Ceylon and later Sri Lanka from the colonial era to 1972. Many members received imperial honours such as knighthood by the British Crown.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">World Classical Tamil Conference 2010</span> International gathering

The World Classical Tamil Conference 2010 was an international gathering of scholars, poets, political leaders and celebrities with an interest in Tamil people, the Tamil language and Tamil literature. It was held in Coimbatore between 23 June and 27 June 2010 with an expenditure of more than 500 Crores.

Arunachalam or Arunachala is a Tamil male given name. Due to the Tamil tradition of using patronymic surnames it may also be a surname for males and females.

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