Keremane Shivarama Hegde was born in a Havyaka Brahmin family in Keremane in the Honnavar taluk of the Uttara Kannada district on 21 June 1908.
Among them are the Chitpavan Brahmins who migrated from the Ratnagiri district of Maharashtra and in the later years Shetty, Naika, Muslims, Kochi Christians, Havyaka-Karhada-Shivalli Brahmins.