Lal (, , , , ) is an Indo-Iranian surname and given name, which means "darling", "precious", or "beloved", from the

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...

''lala'' ("cajoling").''Dictionary of American Family Names''
Family History"
Oxford University Press, 2013. Retrieved on 19 January 2016. In addition, Lal means "

garnet Garnets () are a group of silicate minerals that have been used since the Bronze Age as gemstones and abrasives. Garnet minerals, while sharing similar physical and crystallographic properties, exhibit a wide range of chemical compositions, de ...

" or "

ruby Ruby is a pinkish-red-to-blood-red-colored gemstone, a variety of the mineral corundum ( aluminium oxide). Ruby is one of the most popular traditional jewelry gems and is very durable. Other varieties of gem-quality corundum are called sapph ...

" in

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

, "ruby" in

Pashto Pashto ( , ; , ) is an eastern Iranian language in the Indo-European language family, natively spoken in northwestern Pakistan and southern and eastern Afghanistan. It has official status in Afghanistan and the Pakistani province of Khyb ...

, and "red" in Hindustani and

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

. The name Lal may refer to mainly

Kayastha Kayastha (or Kayasth) denotes a cluster of disparate Indian communities broadly categorised by the regions of the Indian subcontinent in which they were traditionally locatedthe Chitraguptavanshi Kayasthas of North India, the Chandraseniya Ka ...

as well as used by other communities:

Surname

Lal is a surname related to honorific title Lal, and is found among various social groups and

caste A caste is a Essentialism, fixed social group into which an individual is born within a particular system of social stratification: a caste system. Within such a system, individuals are expected to marry exclusively within the same caste (en ...

s. The surname is also common in the

Indian diaspora Overseas Indians (ISO 15919, ISO: ), officially Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) and People of Indian Origin (PIOs) are people of Indian descent who reside or originate outside of India (Including those that were directly under the British Raj). Acc ...

Notable people

* Akash Lal (born 1940), Indian cricketer * Amrit Lal (1940s Southern Punjab cricketer) * Amrit Lal (1960s Southern Punjab cricketer) * Ananda Lal (born 1955), Indian theatre critic *

Arun Lal Jagdishlal Arun Lal (; born 1 August 1955) is a retired Indian cricketer, and a cricket commentator. He played for India, as a right-handed batsman, between 1982 and 1989 was a gritty player. His columns about cricket analysis regularly appe ...

(born 1955), Indian cricketer *

B. B. Lal Braj Basi Lal (2 May 1921 – 10 September 2022) was an Indian writer and archaeologist. He was the Director General of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) from 1968 to 1972 and has served as Director of the Indian Institute of Advance ...

(1921–2022), Indian archaeologist *

Bansi Lal Bansi Lal Legha (26 August 1927 – 28 March 2006), also known as Chaudhary Bansi Lal, was an Indian politician and independence activist, who served as the Minister of Defence of India and three-time Chief Minister of Haryana. He is also kno ...

(1927–2006), Indian politician and two-time chief minister of Haryana *

Bhai Nand Lal Bhai Nand Lal (; ; 1633–1720), also known by his pen name Goya (; ), was a 17th-century Sikh poet in the Punjab region. Biography Bhai Nand Lal, a respected Persian scholar, was one of the 52 poets associated with Guru Gobind Singh. Born in G ...

(1633–1713), Persian poet * Bhajan Lal (1930–2011), Indian politician * Bihari Lal (1595–1663), Indian poet * Brij Lal, Indo-Fijian politician *

Brij Lal (historian) Brij Vilash Lal , OF (21 August 1952 – 25 December 2021) was an Indo-Fijian historian who wrote about the Pacific region and the Indian indenture system. A harsh critic of the Bainimarama government, which originated in the military coup o ...

(born 1952), Fijian historian *

Chatur Lal Chatur Lal (16 April 1925 – 14 October 1965) was an Indian tabla player. Career Chatur Lal was born on 16 April 1925 in Udaipur, Rajasthan. He toured with Ravi Shankar, Nikhil Banerjee, Baba Allauddin Khan, Sharan Rani and Ali Akbar Kha ...

(1925–1965), Indian tabla player *

Chaudhary Devi Lal Devi Lal (25 September 1914 – 6 April 2001) was an Indian statesman and politician who briefly served as the deputy prime minister of India from 1990 to 1991 and previously from 1989 to 1990. Lal emerged as a prominent advocate for rural and ...

(1909–2001), Indian politician who twice served as Chief Minister of Haryana *

Chuni Lal Naib Subedar Chuni Lal AC, VrC, SM was an Indian Army soldier of the Jammu and Kashmir Light Infantry (8 JAK LI). Decorated with Vir Chakra and Sena Medal (Gallantry), he is the most highly-decorated soldier of the Indian Army of all time ...

(1968 - 2007) Indian Army soldier *

Deepak Lal Deepak Kumar Lal (1940 – 30 April 2020) was an Indian-born British liberal economist, author, professor and consultant.http://www.econ.ucla.edu/Lal/cv2004.pdf Best known for his 1983 book, The Poverty of “Development Economics", Lal was ...

(born 1940), British economist *

Durga Lal Pandit Durga Lal (1948 - 21 January 1990) was a renowned Kathak dancer of the Jaipur Gharana. He was born in Mahendragarh, Rajasthan. He is known for playing the main role in the 1989 dance drama ''Ghanashyam'', the music of which was composed b ...

(1948 - 1990), Indian Kathak dancer *

Gobind Behari Lal Gobind Behari Lal was an Indian-American journalist and independence activist. A relative and close associate of Lala Har Dayal, he joined the Ghadar Party and participated in the Indian independence movement. He arrived the United States on a ...

(1889–1982), Indian journalist *

Jean Paul Lal Jean Paul Lal, better known by his stage name Lal Jr., is an Indian film director and actor who mainly works in the Malayalam film industry. He is the son of actor-director Lal. His directorial debut movie was ''Honey Bee'' starring Asif Ali ...

(born 1988), Malayalam film director *

Kishan Lal Kishan Lal (2 February 1917 – 23 June 1980) was an Indian people, Indian field hockey player. He captained the India men's national field hockey team, Indian hockey team at the Field hockey at the 1948 Summer Olympics, 1948 Summer Olympic ...

(1917 – 1980), Indian field hockey player * K. S. Lal (1920–2002), Indian historian *

Lallu Lal Lallu Lal (1763–1835) was an academic, author and translator from India. He was an instructor in the Hindustani language at Fort William College in Hastings, Calcutta. He is notable for ''Prem Sagar'', the first work in modern literary Hindi. ...

(1763–1835), Indian writer *

Madan Lal Madan Lal Udhouram Sharma (; born 20 March 1951) is a former Indian cricketer (1974–1987) and Indian national cricket coach. He was a member of the 1983 Cricket World Cup winning India squad. He was also a part of the Indian squad which won t ...

(born 1951), Indian cricket player and coach *

Mohanlal Mohanlal Viswanathan (; born 21 May 1960), known mononymously as Mohanlal, is an Indian actor and filmmaker who predominantly works in Malayalam cinema, Malayalam cinema besides also having sporadically appeared in Tamil cinema, Tamil, Hin ...

(born 1960), Indian Actor * Nidhin Lal (born 1991), Indian footballer * Padma Narsey Lal (born 1951), Fijian ecological economist * Pancham Lal (born 1951), Indian Administrative Service officer *

Pratap Chandra Lal Air Chief Marshal Pratap Chandra Lal, DFC (6 December 1916 – 13 August 1982) was the Chief of Air Staff (CAS) of the Indian Air Force (IAF) during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971. He served in the IAF from 1939 until his retirement in 1 ...

(1916–1982), Indian air marshal * Prerna Lal (born 1984), Fijian writer * Priyaa Lal (born 1993), British Indian actress *

Purshotam Lal Purshotam Lal is an Indian Interventional cardiologist who has to his credit the pioneering of over 20 interventional cardiology procedures for the first time in India, some of which were the first time in the World. Trained in UK, US and Germa ...

(born 1954), Indian cardiologist *

Purushottama Lal Purushottama Lal (28 August 1929 – 3 November 2010), commonly known as P. Lal, was an Indian poet, author, translator, professor and publisher. He was the founder of publishing firm Writers Workshop in Calcutta, established in 1958. Life an ...

(1929–2010), Indian writer *

Sanjay Lal Sanjay Lal (born July 23, 1969) is an American football coach who is the wide receivers coach for the Los Angeles Chargers of the National Football League (NFL). He previously served as an assistant coach for the Jacksonville Jaguars, Indianapo ...

(born 1969), American football coach *

Shaneel Lal Shaneel Shavneel Lal (born 22 January 2000) is a Fijian-New Zealand LGBT rights activist, columnist and political commentator. Lal is best known for advocating for the ban of conversion therapy in New Zealand. Early life Lal was born in Nau ...

(born 2000), Fijian-New Zealand activist *

Siddhartha Lal Siddhartha Vikram Lal (born October 1973) is an Indian businessman. The son of businessman Vikram Lal, Siddhartha Lal is the executive chairman of Eicher Motors, a director of Eicher Goodearth and chairman and MD of VE Commercial Vehicles. La ...

(born 1973), Indian businessman *

Sunder Lal Sunder Lal ( – 3 January 1987) was an Indian independence activist and politician. A member of the Indian National Congress, he served as a Member of Lok Sabha six times. For the first 5 Lok Sabha elections, Lal represented the Saharanpur c ...

, Indian freedom fighter * Vikram Lal (born 1942), Indian businessman * Vinay Lal (born 1961), Indian historian

Given name

* Lal Behari Dey (1824–1892), Indian journalist * Lal Jayawardena (1935–2004), Sri Lankan economist *

Lal Jose Lal Jose is an Indian director, actor, producer, and distributor who works in the Malayalam film industry. He started his career as an Assistant director in the Malayalam cinema. His directorial debut was with the 1998 film '' Oru Maravat ...

(born 1966), Indian filmmaker *

Lal Khan Lal Khan (born Tanveer Gondal; June 1956 – 21 February 2020) was a Pakistani political activist and Marxist political theorist. He was a physician by profession but ceased practicing medicine in order to devote his time to political activit ...

(born 1956), Pakistani political activist *

Lal Krishna Advani Lal Krishna Advani (born 8 November 1927) is an Indian politician who served as the Deputy Prime Minister of India from 2002 to 2004. He is one of the co-founders of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and a member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak San ...

(born 1927), Indian politician * Lal Mia (died 1960), Bengali politician *

Lal Thanhawla Pu Lal Thanhawla (born 19 May 1938 or 1942) is an Indian politician and former List of chief ministers of Mizoram, Chief Minister of Mizoram, belonging to the Indian National Congress party. He holds the record for longest-serving Chief Ministe ...

(born 1942), Indian politician * Lal Thanzara, Indian politician *

Lal Wickrematunge Lal Wickrematunge is a Sri Lankan business man, media mogul and chairman of Leader Publications which he co-founded with brother Lasantha Wickrematunge. Wickrematunge is the son of Harris Wickrematunge former deputy mayor of Colombo. Life an ...

(born 1950), Sri Lankan businessman *

Lalu Prasad Yadav Lalu Prasad (born 11 June 1948) is an Indian politician who served as the chief minister of Bihar from 1990 to 1997 with a brief interruption in 1995 and as the union minister for Railways from 2004 to 2009. He is the founder and president o ...

, Indian politician. 'Lalu' is a variant of 'Lal' * Lal Ensari, Turkish actress

References

{{given name, type=both Indian given names Surnames of Indian origin

Surname

Notable people

Given name

See also

References