How common is the surname Bray?

34,906 people in the United States had the surname Bray in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 8,845 Americans. It ranked 1,003rd of 162,253 surnames.

Who is the most famous person named Bray?

John Bray, athletics competitor (1875–1945), followed by Stephen Bray.

Where is the surname Bray most common?

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

How do you pronounce Bray?

Bray is /bɹeɪ/, one syllable.

Is the surname Bray getting more or less common?

More common. 34,575 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 34,906 in 2010, up 1.0%.

The surname Bray

An Irish surname, carried by 34,906 people in the United States.

Pronounced /bɹeɪ/ 1 syllable Soundex B600

Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Bray is more common than 99.4% of them.

Origin

Irish origin

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

One of 880 Irish surnames on this site.

Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

How common it is

2010 US Census

There were 34,906 people named Bray in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 8,845 Americans. That is up 1.0% since 2000, when the Census counted 34,575.

#1,003

rank among US surnames

34,906

people in 2010

per 100,000 Americans

+1%

change since 2000 (was #923)

Rank	Surname	People	1 in
#994	Whitney	35,118	8,792
#995	Duke	35,053	8,808
#996	Odom	35,020	8,816
#997	Daugherty	34,987	8,825
#998	Travis	34,985	8,825
#999	Tang	34,961	8,831
#1,000	Archer	34,949	8,834

Who is named Bray

Race and Hispanic origin as people reported it in the 2010 Census

82% of people named Bray identified as white (not Hispanic), 12% as Black (not Hispanic) and 2.3% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).

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

Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

Famous Brays

10 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

John Bray
Athletics competitor (1875–1945)
Stephen Bray
American songwriter, drummer, and record producer, born 1956
Libba Bray
American teen writer, born 1964
Deanne Bray
American actress, born 1971
John Randolph Bray
Animator (1879-1978)
Robert Bray
American actor (1917-1983)
Helen Bray
Actress (1889-1990)
Thom Bray
American actor, born 1954
Count Otto von Bray-Steinburg
Bavarian diplomat (1807–1899)
T. J. Bray
American basketball player (born 1992)

Notable Brays come mostly from the United States (9) and Kingdom of Bavaria (1).

Spellings and sound-alikes

Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

Surnames that sound like Bray

Bray has the Soundex code B600, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code B600.

Other Irish surnames

All 880 Irish surnames

Questions

Where does the surname Bray come from?: The town in Ireland is from Irish Bré, of uncertain origin.
How common is the surname Bray?: 34,906 people in the United States had the surname Bray in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 8,845 Americans. It ranked 1,003rd of 162,253 surnames.
What ethnicity is the surname Bray?: In the 2010 Census, 82% of people named Bray identified as white (not Hispanic), and 12% as Black (not Hispanic).
Who is the most famous person named Bray?: John Bray, athletics competitor (1875–1945), followed by Stephen Bray.
Where is the surname Bray most common?: Wikidata records people named Bray in the United States and Kingdom of Bavaria.
How do you pronounce Bray?: Bray is /bɹeɪ/, one syllable.
Is the surname Bray getting more or less common?: More common. 34,575 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 34,906 in 2010, up 1.0%.