Wikipedia
Ramaraja Kshatriyas ('Rama Kshatriya') are a Kannada/Konkani speaking brahmanical community of former royal army officials/caretaker-administrators of forts who mainly hail from the region of Dakshina Kannada, Udupi, Shimoga, and Districts of Karnataka and Kasaragod, Kanhangad areas of Kerala, and in the area of Goa bordering with Karnataka. Other communities refer to them by various synonyms, such as, 'Shervegar',' Koteyar', 'Kote Shervegar/Kote Kshatriya' etc.
As per the document, 'Castes & Tribes of South India by Thurston - 1909', they are also present in Bellary to some extent.
They are called 'Koteyavaru' because 'Kote' in Kannada means 'Fort' and 'Koteyavaru' means 'people belonging to fort (Killedara)'. Alternatively they are also called 'Shervegars' because 'Sherve' means 'military' in Kannada and 'Shervegar' means 'military person'.
The title 'Servaikaran/Servaigaran' (meaning 'commander or captain of the military') is also found in Tamil Nadu (source: Castes and Tribes of South India by Thurston). The word 'Servai' also denotes 'Service' (perhaps service under royalty / military service) according to the same book.
The word 'Ramaraja Kshatriya' is more used in Mangalore, Udupi and Kasaragod areas, since Lord Rama has been referred by the community more respectfully as 'Ramaraja', meaning 'Lord Rama'.
In olden days, RK community used to live in and around forts serving royalties in military and administration, e.g. Bekal Fort, Mirjan Fort, Chandragiri Fort etc. They were also local chieftains and clansmen of local kings.
Their mother-tongue is Kannada. In Uttara Kannada district, their mother-tongue is both Kannada and Konkani.
'Rao (Raaya)' is a widely used surname in Ramakshatriya community. Other surnames are Naayak meaning Leader / Captain (many times wrongly spelt as Naik or Naika), Shervegar (and its incorrect variants like Sheregar, Sherigar, Seregar), Sara/Shara (in olden days), e.g. Thimma Sara, Bhaira Shara etc. Some other surnames are Kothwal (Kotepala), Dafedar, Killedar, Havaldar, Hoblidar, Patel, Shanbhag, Hegde, Shroff, Patvala (Pattevala) etc. Rarely some families have Sawant, Sayil as their surnames in Uttar Kannada district. Many of these surnames represent military or administrative titles. In olden days, names of men of this community used to end with -Aiyya, -Annayya, -Appayya, -Appa, -raaya (denoting a high social status), e.g. Naagappa, Jannappa, Baalayya, Devappayya, Annappayya, Devaraaya, Subbaraya etc. and names of women used to end with -Amma.
However, like Saraswats, majority of the community members do not add surnames to their names. Instead, they add names of their ancestral places/family names to their name, e.g. Bekal, Kumble, Hosdurg,Jeppu, kallianpur,Bolar, Kundapur, Uppoor etc. In some cases, the surname is place-name with the added word 'kar', e.g. Bekalkar, Chandarvarkar, Hospattankar, Kanakonakar etc.