On 4th February 1986, President of Sri Lanka J. R. Jayewardene awarded the first Sri Lankan national honours since the suspension of Imperial honors in 1956.

Sri Lankabhimanya

• Ranasinghe Premadasa - Prime Minister of Sri Lanka

Deshamanya

• P. R. Anthonis – surgeon and academic^[1]
• Gamani Corea – economist, civil servant and diplomat^[1]
• M. C. M. Kaleel^[1]
• Malage George Victor Perera Wijewickrama Samarasinghe^[1]
• Miliani Sansoni – Chief Justice of Ceylon^[1]
• Victor Tennekoon – Chief Justice of Ceylon^[1]

Deshabandu

• Ahangamage Tudor Ariyaratne
• Hewa Komanage Dharmadasa
• Norendradas Jayaratnam Wallooppillai
• Daphne Attygalle
• Wimala de Silva
• Arulanandam Yesuadian Samuel Gnanam
• David Edwin Hettiarachchi
• Dhamital Senakumar Jayasundera
• Clara Motwani