Jayashankar is an Indian given name and surname. It is formed from the Sanskrit words jaya (जय) 'victorious' and śaṃkara (शंकर) 'beneficent'. The latter word is a reference to Shiva (see Shankar).[1] By the process of schwa syncope, jaya becomes jai in many modern Indian languages, resulting in the name also being spelled Jaishankar. People with these names include:
- Jaishankar Bhojak (1889–1975), Indian actor and director of Gujarati theatre
- Jaishankar Prasad (1889–1937), Indian writer prominent in modern Hindi literature
- Kothapalli Jayashankar (1934–2011), Telangana movement activist
- Jaishankar (1938–2000), Indian actor known for his work in Tamil cinema
- Thiruvizha Jayashankar (born 1940), Indian classical musician
- S. Jaishankar (born 1955), Indian diplomat
- Jaishankar Menon (born 1956), Indian-born American computer scientist
- A. Jayashankar (born 1962), Indian lawyer based in Kerala
- M. Jaishankar (1977–2018), Indian serial killer
- Shvetha Jaishankar (born 1978), Indian model and businesswoman
- Karuppannan Jaishankar, Indian criminologist
- Vedam Jaishankar, Indian cricket correspondent from Karnataka