# Desai (surname)

Source: https://namelineage.com/surname/desai/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. Counts from the US Census Bureau; origin and etymology from Wiktionary; bearers from Wikidata. Data updated 2026-11-11.

A surname from Gujarati.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | Gujarati |
| Type | not recorded |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 18,638 |
| US rank (2010) | 1,938 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 16,565 people |
| Change since 2000 | +43% (13,057 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | not recorded |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |

## Etymology

Borrowed from Marathi देसाई (desāī, “leader of a village”), or from Gujarati દેસાઈ (desāī). This surname is mostly found in Maharashtra and Gujarat.

## Who carries it

Share of people named Desai in the 2010 US Census by the Census's own race and ethnicity groups. The Census suppresses a share when the count behind it is small.

| Group | Share |
|---|---|
| White (not Hispanic) | 3.0% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 0.3% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 0.6% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 94% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 0.3% |
| Two or more races | 2.0% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named Desai in the United Kingdom.

## People named Desai

- Meghnad Desai, Baron Desai, British economist and politician (born 1940)

## Similar surnames

Dees, Deas, Dews, Dease, Deasy, Deak, Diaz, Duke, Dickey, Doss, Dick, Dias.

## How to read these numbers

A Census count is people alive and counted in 2010, not births, and names occurring fewer than 100 times are not published at all. Ethnicity shares are the Census's own categories.