# Bray (surname)

Source: https://namelineage.com/surname/bray/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. Counts from the US Census Bureau; origin and etymology from Wiktionary; bearers from Wikidata. Data updated 2026-11-11.

A surname.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | Irish |
| Type | not recorded |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 34,906 |
| US rank (2010) | 1,003 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 8,845 people |
| Change since 2000 | +1.0% (34,575 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | /bɹeɪ/, 1 syllable |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |

## Etymology

The town in Ireland is from Irish Bré, of uncertain origin.

## Who carries it

Share of people named Bray in the 2010 US Census by the Census's own race and ethnicity groups. The Census suppresses a share when the count behind it is small.

| Group | Share |
|---|---|
| White (not Hispanic) | 82% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 12% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 2.3% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 0.6% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 0.8% |
| Two or more races | 2.2% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named Bray in the United States and Kingdom of Bavaria.

## People named Bray

- John Bray, athletics competitor (1875–1945)
- Stephen Bray, American songwriter, drummer, and record producer
- Libba Bray, American teen writer
- Deanne Bray, American actress
- John Randolph Bray, animator (1879-1978)
- Robert Bray, American actor (1917-1983)
- Helen Bray, actress (1889-1990)
- Thom Bray, American actor
- Count Otto von Bray-Steinburg, Bavarian diplomat (1807–1899)
- T. J. Bray, American basketball player (born 1992)

## Similar surnames

Barry, Bury, Brey, Brea, Bera, Bora, Brau, Borrayo, Berry, Bauer, Boyer, Barr.

## How to read these numbers

A Census count is people alive and counted in 2010, not births, and names occurring fewer than 100 times are not published at all. Ethnicity shares are the Census's own categories.