The Nair surname

In the 2010 U.S. Census, 7,513 people carried this name — #4,719 among all U.S. surnames, about 1 in every 39,200 people counted. That is up 102% from 3,728 in 2000.

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Where the name comes from

The origin of the Nair surname

Borrowed from Malayalam നായർ (nāyaṟ).

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary (en.wiktionary.org) — entry «Nair» (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

146 people named Nair live in Switzerland.

They live in 10 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

Zurich 55
Geneva 25
Vaud 18
Zug 11
Aargau 10
Basel-Landschaft 10
St. Gallen 7
Basel-Stadt 4

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 France’s civil register

France’s register of deaths holds 47 people named Nair.

21 of them were born outside France. Those born in France came from 11 départements, most often Finistère.

Too few records to say where it concentrates region by region — these are plain counts, not shares.

Where they were born

Born outside France 21
Finistère 8
Hauts-de-Seine 4
Val-d’Oise 3
Val-de-Marne 2
Moselle 2
Loire-Atlantique 2
Hérault 1
Haute-Garonne 1

Fichier des personnes décédées, INSEE — Licence Ouverte 2.0 · deaths recorded in France since 1970, by place of birth.

In Poland’s population register

20 people named Nair have a registered home in Poland.

Of the 115 in Poland’s national register, these are the ones with a permanent address on file. They live in 4 of Poland’s 16 voivodeships, most of all in Masovian.

Too few records to say where it concentrates region by region — these are plain counts, not shares.

Where they live today

Masovian 14
Lesser Poland 2
Subcarpathian 2
Greater Poland 2

PESEL register, Ministry of Digital Affairs of Poland (dane.gov.pl) — CC0 · living people by voivodeship of permanent residence, 20 January 2026.

In the Nordic population registers

144 people named Nair is counted in Sweden.

Sweden’s figure is from 31 December 2022, the last count Statistics Sweden published.

Counted, by country

Sweden (2022) 144

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

Nair in American newspapers,
1897.

Newspaper page from The Providence News carrying the name Nair
The Providence News 1897-08-07

Chronicling America, Library of Congress — digitised newspapers in the public domain.

In print

Nair in Australian newspapers,
1840s–2000s.

5,911 articles name a Mr, Mrs or Miss Nair. The most, 1,153, date from the 1910s. Weighed against how much of each state’s press from the same decades has been digitised, it stands out most in Victoria, at 2.1 times its expected share.

Articles, by state

Victoria 2,494
New South Wales 1,535
South Australia 488
Tasmania 476
Western Australia 420
Queensland 354
ACT (Canberra) 99
Northern Territory 15

Trove, National Library of Australia (trove.nla.gov.au) · articles in its digitised newspapers that name a Mr, Mrs or Miss Nair.

Who carried it

People named Nair,
with a public archive behind them.

  • Devan Nair
    Devan Nair 1923–2005 · politician

Wikidata (CC0) · portraits via Wikimedia Commons, shown cropped, in the public domain or CC0 · 87 lives in all are documented under this name.

In the public record

People named Nair,
in the records of 6 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 States54 records

54 records of the Nair name in the United States
  • U.S. Army enlistment records, World War II 21
  • Passenger arrivals in the United States, 1820–1912 14
  • U.S. alien registration index, 1940–1955 8
  • U.S. veterans' cemetery records, burials to 2001 6
  • New York City birth, marriage and death certificates 3
  • Irish Famine arrivals at New York, 1846–1851 1
  • New York State death index (outside NYC), 1957–2001 1
  1. A United States Selective Service registration card, 1942
    Example: U.S. registration card, 1942
    Military record John H. Nair

    Born 1920 in New York. Enlisted 1944 at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; chemist from Allegheny County, Pennsylvania.

    U.S. National Archives, WWII Army Enlistment Records (public domain)
  2. A passenger manifest of the S.S. St. Paul, arriving at New York in 1903
    Example: passenger manifest, 1903
    Passenger record Catharine Nair

    Arrived at Philadelphia in 1878 aboard the Switzerland from Antwerp, aged 36; servant. From Prussia, Germany.

    U.S. National Archives, Castle Garden Immigration Center Collection, Ship Passenger Records (unrestricted)
  3. A U.S. Army record of death and interment, Camp Nelson, Kentucky, 1864
    Example: U.S. burial record, 1864
    Burial record Harold Nair

    U.S. Navy veteran of World War I and World War II. Born 1898, died 1956; buried at Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery, California.

    U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Gravesite Locator (CC0)

Showing 3 of 54 records for Nair in the United States.

Counts: U.S. National Archives, WWII Army Enlistment Records (public domain) · U.S. National Archives, Castle Garden Immigration Center Collection, Ship Passenger Records (unrestricted) · U.S. National Archives, Flexoline Index Data File (public domain) · U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Gravesite Locator (CC0) · NYC Department of Records & Information Services, Historical Vital Records (NYC Open Data) · U.S. National Archives, Famine Irish Passenger Records (public domain) · New York State Department of Health, Genealogical Research Death Index. Example pages, not the records of the people shown: U.S. Selective Service registration card, 1942 (public domain); Passenger manifest of the S.S. St. Paul, New York, 1903 (public domain); Record of death and interment, Camp Nelson, Kentucky, 1864, U.S. National Archives (public domain).

France15 records

15 records of the Nair name in France France's national death register, 1970–2001
  1. A page of the death register of Nice, 1930
    Example: French death register, 1930
    Death record Nasreddine Nair

    Born 1963 in Algeria; died 1999 in Argenteuil (Val-d'Oise).

    Insee, Fichier des personnes décédées (Licence Ouverte)
  2. A page of the death register of Nice, 1930
    Example: French death register, 1930
    Death record Jeanne Marie Nair

    Born 1897 in Beuzec-Cap-Sizun; died 1988 in Douarnenez (Finistère).

    Insee, Fichier des personnes décédées (Licence Ouverte)
  3. A page of the death register of Nice, 1930
    Example: French death register, 1930
    Death record Pierre Marie Nair

    Born 1905 in Brest; died 1977 in Brest (Finistère).

    Insee, Fichier des personnes décédées (Licence Ouverte)

Showing 3 of 15 records for Nair in France.

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).

Australia9 records

9 records of the Nair name in Australia
  • Victoria passenger lists, 1839–1923 7
  • Queensland State Archives indexes 2
  1. A passenger manifest of the S.S. St. Paul, arriving at New York in 1903
    Example: passenger manifest, 1903
    Passenger record Margt Nair

    Arrived in Victoria in 1854 aboard the Merlin, aged 19; Scottish.

    Public Record Office Victoria (CC BY 4.0)
  2. A page of the Berlin civil register, 1880
    Example: civil register, 1880
    Civil record William Scott Nair

    Bought land at Callandoon, Queensland in 1860.

    Queensland State Archives (CC BY 4.0)
  3. A passenger manifest of the S.S. St. Paul, arriving at New York in 1903
    Example: passenger manifest, 1903
    Passenger record John Nair

    Sailed from Victoria in 1863 aboard the Sea Breeze, aged 40.

    Public Record Office Victoria (CC BY 4.0)

Showing 3 of 9 records for Nair in Australia.

Counts: Public Record Office Victoria (CC BY 4.0) · Queensland State Archives (CC BY 4.0). Example pages, not the records of the people shown: Passenger manifest of the S.S. St. Paul, New York, 1903 (public domain); Civil register, Berlin, 1880, Landesarchiv Berlin (CC0).

Canada1 record

1 record of the Nair name in Canada City of Waterloo (Ontario) cemetery records
  1. Fairview Lawn Cemetery in Halifax, Nova Scotia
    Example: Canadian cemetery
    Burial record Velayudhan Nair

    Buried in 1991 at Parkview Cemetery, Waterloo, Ontario.

    Contains information provided by the City of Waterloo under licence

Counts: Contains information provided by the City of Waterloo under licence. Example pages, not the records of the people shown: Fairview Lawn Cemetery, Halifax, photo by Edgar El (CC BY 3.0).

United Kingdom1 record

1 record of the Nair name in the United Kingdom St James's burial ground, Euston (London), 1789–1853
  1. A page of the burial register of Newtown, Wales, 1858
    Example: burial register, 1858
    Burial record Alexander William Nair

    Buried in 1819 at St James's burial ground, Euston, London, aged 55.

    MOLA and HS2, St James's burial ground data. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

Counts: MOLA and HS2, St James's burial ground data. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Example pages, not the records of the people shown: Burial register of Newtown, Montgomeryshire, 1858, National Library of Wales (CC0).

Germany1 record

1 record of the Nair name in Germany Germany's First World War casualty lists, 1914–1919
  1. A page of the German First World War casualty lists, 18 April 1918
    Example: German casualty list, 1918
    Casualty list Josef Nair

    From Landsberg, Bayern. Reported dead in the Prussian casualty list of 17 September 1919 (Reserve Infantry Regiment No. 111).

    Verein für Computergenealogie e.V. (2026). Deutsche Verlustlisten des Ersten Weltkriegs – Datensammlung (Version 1.0), DOI 10.5281/zenodo.18330751 (CC0)

Counts: Verein für Computergenealogie e.V. (2026). Deutsche Verlustlisten des Ersten Weltkriegs – Datensammlung (Version 1.0), DOI 10.5281/zenodo.18330751 (CC0). Example pages, not the records of the people shown: Deutsche Verlustlisten, Prussian list 1116, 18 April 1918 (scan via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0).

Nearby in the index

Surnames next to Nair.

When the index is not enough

This page says where Nair 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.

See the Nair volume
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