Tamil Americans

In the second half of the 20th century, Tamils from India migrated as skilled professionals to the United States, Canada, Europe, and Southeast Asia. The Tamil American population exceeds 356,924 individuals. The Federation of Tamil Sangams of North America functions as an umbrella organization for the growing community.{{cite web|url=http://www.fetna.org/index.php/2011-12-22-02-18-20/2011-12-22-02-21-42|title=ABOUT FETNA|publisher=Federation of Tamil Sangams of North America|access-date=2013-04-01|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130116211514/http://www.fetna.org/index.php/2011-12-22-02-18-20/2011-12-22-02-21-42|archive-date=2013-01-16}}

Central New Jersey is home to the largest population concentration of Tamil Americans. Sizeable populations of Indian American Tamils have also settled in New York City, and New Jersey and New York house separate Tamil Sangams.{{Cite web |url=http://www.njtamilsangam.info/ |title=New Jersey Tamil Sangam |access-date=2010-09-05 |archive-date=2010-09-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100902115102/http://www.njtamilsangam.info/ |url-status=usurped }} Several metropolitan areas including the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area on the East Coast as well as Silicon Valley on the West Coast also have Tamil associations.[https://www.bayareatamilmanram.org/ Bay Area Tamil Manram]{{Cite web |date=2023-10-21 |title=Tamils of Northern California |url=https://tnc-usa.org/ |access-date=2023-11-01 |website=Tamils of Northern California - வடகலிபோர்னிய தமிழர்கள் |language=en-US}}

The New York City and Los Angeles metropolitan areas are home to the largest concentrations of Tamil-speaking Sri Lankan Americans.{{cite web|url=https://www.dhs.gov/yearbook-immigration-statistics-2012-legal-permanent-residents|title=Yearbook of Immigration Statistics: 2012 Supplemental Table 2|publisher=U.S. Department of Homeland Security|access-date=2013-03-31}}{{cite web|url=https://www.dhs.gov/files/statistics/publications/LPR11.shtm|title=Yearbook of Immigration Statistics: 2011 Supplemental Table 2|publisher=U.S. Department of Homeland Security|access-date=2013-03-31}}{{cite web|url=https://www.dhs.gov/files/statistics/publications/LPR10.shtm|title=Yearbook of Immigration Statistics: 2010 Supplemental Table 2|publisher=U.S. Department of Homeland Security|access-date=2013-03-31}} New York City's Staten Island alone is estimated to be home to more than 5,000 Sri Lankan Americans,{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2013/06/09/nyregion/new-york-citys-newest-immigrant-enclaves.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0|title=Sri Lankans have gathered on Staten Island,...|author=Kirk Semple|newspaper=The New York Times|date=2013-06-08|access-date=2013-06-09}} one of the largest Sri Lankan populations outside Sri Lanka itself,{{cite web|url=http://macaulay.cuny.edu/eportfolios/lankasrilittle/gallery/|title=Why Staten Island? |publisher=Little Sri Lanka|access-date=2015-07-25}} with an estimated 40% of Sri Lankan Americans being Sri Lankan Tamils.{{cite web|url=http://patrickmendis.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/The-Encyclopedia-of-the-Sri-Lankan-Diaspora.pdf|title=United States of America|date=January 2014}}

File:Top of Rock Cropped.jpg, including Central New Jersey, as well as Long Island and Staten Island in New York, is home to the largest Tamil American (தமிழ் அமெரிக்கர்கள்) population.]]

The Indian Tamil community in the United States is largely bilingual. Tamil is taught in weekly classes in many Hindu temples and by associations such as the American Tamil Academy across the country.{{Cite web|url=https://www.americantamilacademy.org/|title=Home|website=American Tamil Academy}}{{Cite web |url=https://www.dallasnews.com/business/philanthropy/2016/12/29/d-fw-donors-give-biggest-contribution-harvard-chair-tamil-literature|title=D-FW donors give biggest contribution to Harvard chair in Tamil literature|author=Holy Haber|date=December 2016|access-date= December 13, 2018}}

The language's written form is highly formal and quite distinct from the spoken form. A few universities, such as the University of Chicago and the University of California, Berkeley, have graduate programs in the language.Vasudha Narayanan, "Tamils" in David Levinson and Melvin Ember, eds. American immigrant cultures: builders of a nation (1997). p. 878.

The Indian Tamil community is majority-wise connected to the Hindu community. In most Hindu temples in the United States, the prayers are in Sanskrit. However, in North Brunswick, New Jersey, the "Tamil Temple" ("Tamil Annai Thirukkoyil") conducts all the prayers in the Tamil language. The Hindu Temple in Houston, Texas, is dedicated to Meenakshi, a manifestation of the goddess Parvathi. There are also active Tamil Christian and Muslim minorities, as well as Jains and Buddhists. Tamil Muslims also hold a Tamil Muslim Community Sangam-Iman America/QMFUSA.Narayanan, "Tamils," p. 877.

{{Americans}}

• Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar – Astrophysicist and Nobel laureate
• Raj Chetty – Economist, professor of economics at Harvard University renowned for his research on equality of opportunity in the United States
• G. V. Loganathan – Professor and a victim of the Virginia Tech massacre
• C. Mohan – Computer scientist
• Sendhil Mullainathan – Economist, Harvard professor
• Sethuraman Panchanathan – Executive Vice President, Knowledge Enterprise Development and Chief Research Innovation Officer at Arizona State University
• Arogyaswami Paulraj – Wireless researcher, winner of Marconi Prize
• V. S. Ramachandran – Physician, neuroscientist, director of the Center for Brain and Cognition at the University of California, San Diego
• Venkatraman Ramakrishnan – Structural biologist and Nobel laureate
• Maya Shankar – Scientist
• Siva Sivananthan – Academic, scientist, businessman and Director of the Microphysics Laboratory at the University of Illinois at Chicago
• Subra Suresh - Former President of Carnegie Mellon University
• Stanley Jeyaraja Tambiah – Social anthropologist
• S. R. Srinivasa Varadhan – Mathematician
• Sudhir Venkatesh – Sociologist and urban ethnographer

• Ashok Amritraj – Indian-American film producer
• Aziz Ansari – Actor and stand-up comedian
• Sunkrish Bala – Actor
• Jay Chandrasekhar – Actor and director
• Vijay Iyer – Pianist
• Poorna Jagannathan – Actress and producer
• Clarence Jey – Record producer and songwriter
• Mindy Kaling – Actress
• Padma Lakshmi - Author, actress, model, television host
• Mary Anne Mohanraj – Writer
• Sendhil Ramamurthy - Film and television actor
• M. Night Shyamalan – Film director
• S. J. Sindu – Writer
• Rajan Somasundaram – Music composer, songwriter and multi instrumentalist
• Prashanth Venkataramanujam – Actor, television writer, and producer; head writer and producer of Patriot Act
• Divya Victor – Poet

• Krishna Bharat – Computer scientist; founder of Google News
• Vasant Narasimhan - chief executive officer (CEO) of Novartis
• Indra Nooyi – chairwoman and former CEO of PepsiCo Incorporated
• Sundar Pichai - chief executive officer (CEO) of Google
• C. K. Prahalad – Late world-renowned management guru
• Raghuram Rajan – Economist, winner of Fischer Black Prize
• Ram Shriram – Billionaire venture capitalist
• Raj Rajaratnam – Founder of Galleon Group
• Chandrika Tandon – Businesswoman and artist

• Sukanya Krishnan – News anchor
• Hari Sreenivasan – Broadcast journalist

• Kamala Harris – 49th Vice President of the United States
• Maya Harris – Lawyer, public policy advocate, and television commentator
• Raja Krishnamoorthi – U.S. Representative from Illinois
• Nimi McConigley – Former U.S. Representative from Wyoming
• Visvanathan Rudrakumaran - Prime Minister of the Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam, former legal advisor for the Tamil Tigers
• Sri Srinivasan – United States circuit judge
• Savita Vaidhyanathan – Politician, former mayor of Cupertino
• Arvind Venkat – U.S. Representative from Pennsylvania
• Vivek Ramaswamy – Entrepreneur, author and candidate in the 2024 Republican Party presidential primaries from Ohio

• Ananda Coomaraswamy – Philosopher & Historian

• Vijay Amritraj – Indian-American tennis player and commentator

{{Portal|Tamils|United States}}

{{noteslist}}

{{Reflist}}

• {{cite book|author1=Fuller, C. J. |author2=Haripriya Narasimhan |name-list-style=amp |title=Tamil Brahmans: The Making of a Middle-Class Caste|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=r7KjBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA170|year=2014|publisher=University of Chicago Press|isbn=9780226152882 }}
• Narayanan, Vasudha, "Tamils" in {{cite book|editor=David Levinson and Melvin Ember |title=American immigrant cultures: builders of a nation|url=https://archive.org/details/americanimmigran00davi|url-access=registration |year=1997|publisher=Simon & Schuster Macmillan|pages=874–79}}
• {{cite book|author=Underwood, Kelsey Clark |title=Negotiating Tamil Identity in India and the United States|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=t4W0bwAACAAJ|year=1986|publisher=PhD thesis, University of California, Berkeley}}
• Underwood, Kelsey Clark. "Image and Identity: Tamils' Migration to the United States." Papers Kroeber Anthropological Society (1986): 65+

{{Tamil Diaspora}}

{{Indian diaspora}}

{{Sri Lankan diaspora}}

{{Asian Americans}}

{{Demographics of the United States}}

Category:Tamil diaspora in the United States

Category:Asian diaspora in the United States

Category:Indian diaspora in the United States

Category:South Asian diaspora in the United States

Category:Sri Lankan diaspora in the United States

Category:Tamil diaspora by country