# Lay (surname)

Source: https://namelineage.com/surname/lay/  
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 | not recorded |
| Type | not recorded |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 18,468 |
| US rank (2010) | 1,957 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 16,718 people |
| Change since 2000 | +2.7% (17,979 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | not recorded |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |

## Etymology

* As an English surname, spelling variant of Lee. * As a Scottish surname, reduced from McClay. * As a Khmer surname, Khmer ឡាយ (laay). * As a French surname, from several place names in France. The river is from Medieval Latin Ledius. * As a German surname, from various placenames in Bavaria and Rhineland.

## Who carries it

Share of people named Lay 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) | 71% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 7.6% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 3.8% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 14% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 1.0% |
| Two or more races | 2.2% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named Lay in the Kingdom of Great Britain, the United States and the United Kingdom.

## People named Lay

- Benjamin Lay, American Quaker activist
- Sam Lay, American drummer and vocalist (1935–2022)
- Dilys Laye, British actress (1934–2009)

## Similar surnames

Law, Lau, Lai, La, Lao, Lee, Li, Le, Lowe, Liu, Lu, Ly.

## 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.