For the Indian surname, see Rai (Indian)

Rai (Indian)

Rai is a title of honour in India and is also used as a surname mainly by Rajput, Jat of North India and Bunts of coastal Karnataka and Kerala in south India.It is also used as a surname by Bhumihar of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.It is derived from Raja and the Marathi/Telugu variant is Rao, while...

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Rai is a Jat clan or gotra

Gotra

In the Hindu society, the term Gotra broadly refers to people who are descendants in an unbroken male line from a common male ancestor. Panini defines gotra for grammatical purposes as apatyam pautraprabhrti gotram , which means "the word gotra denotes the progeny beginning with the son's son"...

 found mainly in India's Punjab

Punjab (India)

Punjab ) is a state in the northwest of the Republic of India, forming part of the larger Punjab region. The state is bordered by the Indian states of Himachal Pradesh to the east, Haryana to the south and southeast and Rajasthan to the southwest as well as the Pakistani province of Punjab to the...

 state and Pakistan's Punjab

Punjab (Pakistan)

Punjab is the most populous province of Pakistan, with approximately 45% of the country's total population. Forming most of the Punjab region, the province is bordered by Kashmir to the north-east, the Indian states of Punjab and Rajasthan to the east, the Pakistani province of Sindh to the...

 state. Rai is one of the most well known Sikh jat clans originating from the Punjab region of Pakistan and India. The home village (pre-Partition for Muslims) for most Rais is Moranwali

Moranwali

Moranwali is a village near Banga, Punjab, India but falls in Tehsil Garhshankar , Hoshiarpur district , in Punjab state.-Demographics:According to the 2001 Census, Moranwali has a population of 3,097 people...

. Most Sikh jat Rais live in Jalandhar

Jalandhar

Jalandhar is a city in Jalandhar District in the state of Punjab, India. It is located 144 km northwest of the state capital, Chandigarh...

 and Hoshiarpur

Hoshiarpur

Hoshiarpur is a city and a municipal council in Hoshiarpur district in the Indian state of Punjab. It was founded, according to tradition, during the early part of the fourth century. In 1809 it was occupied by the forces of Maharaja Karanvir Singh and was united into the greater state of Punjab....

 and Nawanshahr

Nawanshahr

Nawanshahr is a city and it became district in 1995. now it is a municipal council in Shahid Bhagat Singh Nagar district in the Indian state of Punjab. It is the headquarters of Shahid Bhagat Singh Nagar District....

 Raikot districts of Punjab. This region is known as the Doab

Doab

A Doab is a term used in India and Pakistan for a "tongue" or tract of land lying between two confluent rivers...

. The surname Rai is translated into English as 'sir' or 'leader'. The name either originates from the Indic word for king, Raja

Raja

Raja is an Indian term for a monarch, or princely ruler of the Kshatriya varna...

, or the Perso-Arabic word for leader, Raees.