How common is the surname Fay?

14,849 people in the United States had the surname Fay in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 20,792 Americans. It ranked 2,440th of 162,253 surnames.

What ethnicity is the surname Fay?

In the 2010 Census, 93% of people named Fay identified as white (not Hispanic), and 2.8% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).

Who is the most famous person named Fay?

Meagen Fay, American actress, followed by Frank Fay.

Where is the surname Fay most common?

Wikidata records people named Fay in the United States.

Is the surname Fay getting more or less common?

Less common. 14,992 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 14,849 in 2010, down 1.0%.

Is Fay also a first name?

Yes. Fay is used as a first name as well as a surname; its first-name page has the meaning and how many babies were given it.

The surname Fay

A nickname surname, carried by 14,849 people in the United States.

Pronounced /feɪ/ 1 syllable Soundex F000 Also a first name

Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Fay is more common than 98.5% of them.

Origin

An Anglo-Irish surname transferred from the nickname, Anglicized from de Fae a Norman family that settled in Ireland.

Fay is a nickname surname: from a description or nickname of an ancestor.

Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

How common it is

2010 US Census

There were 14,849 people named Fay in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 20,792 Americans. That is down 1.0% since 2000, when the Census counted 14,992.

#2,440

rank among US surnames

14,849

people in 2010

5.0

per 100,000 Americans

-1%

change since 2000 (was #2,225)

Rank	Surname	People	1 in
#2,431	Michaud	14,910	20,707
#2,432	Tejada	14,903	20,717
#2,433	Irving	14,896	20,727
#2,434	Farrar	14,892	20,732
#2,435	Power	14,890	20,735
#2,436	Dent	14,873	20,759
#2,438	Douglass	14,862	20,774

Who is named Fay

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

93% of people named Fay identified as white (not Hispanic), 2.8% as Hispanic or Latino (any race) and 1.7% as Black (not Hispanic).

White (not Hispanic) 93%
Hispanic or Latino (any race) 2.8%
Black (not Hispanic) 1.7%
Two or more races 1.4%
Asian and Pacific Islander 1.0%
American Indian and Alaska Native 0.4%

Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

Famous Fays

4 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

Meagen Fay
American actress, born 1957
Frank Fay
American actor and comedian (1891-1961)
Dorothy Fay
American actress (1915–2003)
Myrna Fahey
American actress (1933-1973)

Spellings and sound-alikes

Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

Variant spellings

Faye

Surnames that sound like Fay

Fay has the Soundex code F000, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code F000.

Questions

How common is the surname Fay?: 14,849 people in the United States had the surname Fay in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 20,792 Americans. It ranked 2,440th of 162,253 surnames.
What ethnicity is the surname Fay?: In the 2010 Census, 93% of people named Fay identified as white (not Hispanic), and 2.8% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).
Who is the most famous person named Fay?: Meagen Fay, American actress, followed by Frank Fay.
Where is the surname Fay most common?: Wikidata records people named Fay in the United States.
How do you pronounce Fay?: Fay is /feɪ/, one syllable.
What type of surname is Fay?: Fay is a nickname surname, from a description or nickname of an ancestor.
Is the surname Fay getting more or less common?: Less common. 14,992 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 14,849 in 2010, down 1.0%.
What are other spellings of Fay?: Faye.
Is Fay also a first name?: Yes. Fay is used as a first name as well as a surname; its first-name page has the meaning and how many babies were given it.