# Jay (surname)

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

An English surname transferred from the nickname from Old French jai (“jay (bird)”), a nickname for a chatty or showy person.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | French |
| Type | nickname, from a description or nickname of an ancestor |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 9,852 |
| US rank (2010) | 3,604 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 31,338 people |
| Change since 2000 | +0.8% (9,771 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | /d͡ʒeɪ/, 1 syllable |
| Variant spellings | Jaye |

## Etymology

Borrowed from Hindi जय (jay, literally “victory”).

## Who carries it

Share of people named Jay 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) | 79% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 9.2% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 3.0% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 4.3% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 2.0% |
| Two or more races | 2.8% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named Jay in the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia.

## People named Jay

- Bailey Jay, American pornographic film actress
- Tony Jay, British actor (1933–2006)
- Ricky Jay, American magician and actor (1946–2018)
- Sara Jay, American pornographic actress
- David Jay, American asexual activist
- Margaret Jay, Baroness Jay of Paddington, British baroness (born 1939)
- Karla Jay, American feminist (born 1947)
- Terence Jay, American actor and musician
- Jon Jay, American professional baseball player
- Ken Jay, American drummer
- Charlotte Jay, Australian writer (1919-1996)

## Similar surnames

Joy, Joe, Ji, Jo, Joo, Joya, Ju, Jia, Jha, Jew, Jue, Joye.

## 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.