The Desai surname
In the 2010 U.S. Census, 18,638 people carried this name — #1,938 among all U.S. surnames, about 1 in every 15,800 people counted. That is up 43% from 13,057 in 2000.
What the name means
The meaning of the Desai surname
Borrowed from Marathi देसाई (desāī, “leader of a village”), or from Gujarati દેસાઈ (desāī). This surname is mostly found in Maharashtra and Gujarat.
From Wiktionary, the free dictionary (en.wiktionary.org) — entry «Desai» (English), by Wiktionary contributors · licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0) · excerpt, lightly adapted.
In Switzerland’s population statistics
56 people named Desai live in Switzerland.
They live in 5 of Switzerland’s 26 cantons, most of all in Zurich.
Too few records to say where it concentrates region by region — these are plain counts, not shares.
Where they live today
Swiss Federal Statistical Office (FSO), «Surnames of the permanent resident population by canton», 2025, opendata.swiss/en/dataset/nachnamen-der-standigen-wohnbevolkerung-nach-kanton3 · names with fewer than 3 bearers in a canton are not published.
In Belgium’s population register
At least 26 people named Desai live in Belgium.
Statbel only publishes a name in a municipality when five or more people there share it, so the real number is higher. Most of them live in Antwerp.
Too few records to say where it concentrates region by region — these are plain counts, not shares.
Where they live today
Statbel (Statistics Belgium), family names of the population by municipality, 1 January 2026 — CC BY 4.0.
In France’s civil register
France’s register of deaths holds 20 people named Desai.
7 of them were born outside France. Those born in France came from 3 départements, most often La Réunion.
Too few records to say where it concentrates region by region — these are plain counts, not shares.
Where they were born
Fichier des personnes décédées, INSEE — Licence Ouverte 2.0 · deaths recorded in France since 1970, by place of birth.
In the Nordic population registers
90 people named Desai is counted in Sweden.
Sweden’s figure is from 31 December 2022, the last count Statistics Sweden published.
Counted, by country
Own calculations based on data from Statistics Sweden (SCB), surnames with at least two bearers, 31 December 2022 — CC BY 4.0 (names with 20 or more bearers shown).
In print
Desai in American newspapers,
1899–1930.
Chronicling America, Library of Congress — digitised newspapers in the public domain · 1,200 pages in all carry the name.
In print
Desai in Australian newspapers,
1840s–1990s.
949 articles name a Mr, Mrs or Miss Desai. The most, 321, date from the 1970s. Weighed against how much of each state’s press from the same decades has been digitised, it stands out most in the Australian Capital Territory, at 1.8 times its expected share.
Articles, by state
Trove, National Library of Australia (trove.nla.gov.au) · articles in its digitised newspapers that name a Mr, Mrs or Miss Desai.
Who carried it
People named Desai,
with a public archive behind them.
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Ichharam Desai 1853–1912 · writer -
S. D. Desai d. 2022 · art critic
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Vālajī Govindajī Desāī 1892–1982 · translator
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Maganbhai Prabhudas Desai 1899–1969 · writer
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Snehrashmi 1903–1991 · writer
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Snehrashmi 1903–1991 · writer
Wikidata (CC0) · portraits via Wikimedia Commons, shown cropped, in the public domain or CC0 · 10 lives in all are documented under this name.
In the public record
People named Desai,
in the records of 2 countries.
Soldiers, farmers, migrants and neighbours who carried the name and left a trace in public archives. Everyone shown here died long ago or was born more than a century ago.
United States11 records
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Example: U.S. alien registration card, 1940s Alien registration Manu N. DesaiBorn 1919 in Vesma, India. Entered the United States at New York in 1948. Listed in the U.S. alien registration index, 1940–1955.
U.S. National Archives, Flexoline Index Data File (public domain) -
Example: U.S. alien registration card, 1940s Alien registration Arvind M. DesaiBorn 1922 in India. Registered as a foreign national in Ann Arbor, Michigan, under the Alien Registration Act of 1940.
U.S. National Archives, Flexoline Index Data File (public domain) -
Example: U.S. alien registration card, 1940s Alien registration Dahya M. DesaiBorn 1900 in India. Registered as a foreign national in Yuba County, California, under the Alien Registration Act of 1940.
U.S. National Archives, Flexoline Index Data File (public domain)
Showing 3 of 11 records for Desai in the United States.
Counts: U.S. National Archives, Flexoline Index Data File (public domain). Example pages, not the records of the people shown: Alien Registration Receipt Card, Form AR-3, photo by Bobjgalindo via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0).
France2 records
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Example: French death register, 1930 Death record Marguerite DesaiBorn 1913 in Ligny-en-Cambrésis (Nord); died 2000 in Marle (Aisne).
Insee, Fichier des personnes décédées (Licence Ouverte) -
Example: French death register, 1930 Death record Jeanne Helene DesaiBorn 1907 in Ligny-Haucourt; died 1978 in Bailleul (Nord).
Insee, Fichier des personnes décédées (Licence Ouverte)
Counts: Insee, Fichier des personnes décédées (Licence Ouverte). Example pages, not the records of the people shown: Death register of Nice, 1930, Archives départementales des Alpes-Maritimes (public domain).
Nearby in the index
Surnames next to Desai.
- Derudder 154 · U.S. census
- Derue 259 · U.S. census
- Deruyter 807 · U.S. census
- Dervin 356 · U.S. census
- Dery 1,506 · U.S. census
- Derycke 232 · U.S. census
- Desain 121 · U.S. census
- Desandre 211 · U.S. census
- Desante 136 · U.S. census
- Desanti 894 · U.S. census
- Desantiago 6,864 · U.S. census
- Desantis 10,117 · U.S. census
When the index is not enough
This page says where Desai is.
A volume says what happened to it.
Every page in the index is free and stays free. The Heritage Volume is the long form: the full paper trail, the arms, the crossing — bound, and yours.