High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! 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 (king, prince or chief) and the Marathi/Telugu variant is Rao, while the Bengalis use Roy/Ray.