How common is the surname Lay?

18,468 people in the United States had the surname Lay in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 16,718 Americans. It ranked 1,957th of 162,253 surnames.

What ethnicity is the surname Lay?

In the 2010 Census, 71% of people named Lay identified as white (not Hispanic), and 14% as Asian and Pacific Islander.

Who is the most famous person named Lay?

Benjamin Lay, American Quaker activist, followed by Sam Lay.

Where is the surname Lay most common?

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

Is the surname Lay getting more or less common?

More common. 17,979 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 18,468 in 2010, up 2.7%.

The surname Lay

A surname, carried by 18,468 people in the United States.

1 syllable Soundex L000

Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Lay is more common than 98.8% of them.

Origin

* 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.

Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

How common it is

2010 US Census

There were 18,468 people named Lay in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 16,718 Americans. That is up 2.7% since 2000, when the Census counted 17,979.

#1,957

rank among US surnames

18,468

people in 2010

6.3

per 100,000 Americans

+2.7%

change since 2000 (was #1,832)

Rank	Surname	People	1 in
#1,948	Bledsoe	18,510	16,680
#1,949	Rhoades	18,508	16,682
#1,950	Ricks	18,506	16,684
#1,951	Spicer	18,501	16,688
#1,952	Ordonez	18,498	16,691
#1,953	Chavarria	18,492	16,696
#1,954	Bryson	18,486	16,702

Who is named Lay

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

71% of people named Lay identified as white (not Hispanic), 14% as Asian and Pacific Islander and 7.6% as Black (not Hispanic).

White (not Hispanic) 71%
Asian and Pacific Islander 14%
Black (not Hispanic) 7.6%
Hispanic or Latino (any race) 3.8%
Two or more races 2.2%
American Indian and Alaska Native 1.0%

Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

Famous Lays

3 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

Benjamin Lay
American Quaker activist, 1682–1759
Sam Lay
American drummer and vocalist (1935–2022)
Dilys Laye
British actress (1934–2009)

Notable Lays come mostly from the Kingdom of Great Britain (1), the United States (1) and the United Kingdom (1).

Spellings and sound-alikes

Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

Surnames that sound like Lay

Lay has the Soundex code L000, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code L000.

Questions

Where does the surname Lay come from?: * 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…
How common is the surname Lay?: 18,468 people in the United States had the surname Lay in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 16,718 Americans. It ranked 1,957th of 162,253 surnames.
What ethnicity is the surname Lay?: In the 2010 Census, 71% of people named Lay identified as white (not Hispanic), and 14% as Asian and Pacific Islander.
Who is the most famous person named Lay?: Benjamin Lay, American Quaker activist, followed by Sam Lay.
Where is the surname Lay most common?: Wikidata records people named Lay in the Kingdom of Great Britain, the United States and the United Kingdom.
Is the surname Lay getting more or less common?: More common. 17,979 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 18,468 in 2010, up 2.7%.