Jalan Thampillay is presently a one-way street. It starts at a junction on Jalan Tun Sambanthan 4, and ends at Jalan Sultan Abdul Samad.
According to Kuala Lumpur Street Names1, Jalan Thambipillay was named after a Ceylonese Tamil by the name of C. Thambapillai, who arrived in Malaya as part of the British administration in 1888. He assumed a clerical position as court interpreter, and was instrumental in the founding of the Sri Kandasamy Kovil on Jalan Scott. The road was originally registered as Jalan Thambapillai but was somehow respelled as Thambipillay on an unknown date.