Laray
A feminine name of uncertain origin and meaning, possibly from French.
Name Census estimates that about 699 living Americans carry the first name Laray. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 52.3% of registrations being male. The average person named Laray today is around 40 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Laray births was 1984 (20 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Laray. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
People living today
699
~ 1 in 490,350 Americans
Peak year
1984
20 babies that year
Average age
40
years old
2024 SSA rank
#10,454
Tracked since 1924
Census
Laray in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 695 people with the first name Laray, which placed it at #16,280 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#16,280
National first-name rank
People counted
695
695 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
44.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Laray
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Laray is Black at 44.2%. The next largest groups are White (42.4%) and Hispanic (5.2%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Laray described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Laray at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American44.2% · 307
- White42.4% · 295
- Hispanic or Latino5.2% · 36
- Two or more races5.2% · 36
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.7% · 19
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.3% · 2
Gender
Gender distribution for Laray
Laray is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 791 total registrations, 414 (52.3%) were male and 377 (47.7%) were female.
Laray as a male name
- Ranked #10,454 in 2024
- 7 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2009 (14 births)
Laray as a female name
- Ranked #16,555 in 2024
- 5 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1993 (12 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Laray on both sides of the split. Of the 693 people counted with this name, 341 were male (49.2%) and 352 were female (50.8%).
Popularity
Laray: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Laray from the 1920s through to the 2020s, spanning 11 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 144 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1980s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Laray by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Laray during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Laray
The name Laray is believed to have originated from the French language, with its roots traced back to the Late Middle Ages, around the 15th century. The name is thought to be a combination of the French words "la" meaning "the" and "raie" meaning "ray" or "beam of light," potentially referring to a radiant or luminous individual.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Laray can be found in a 16th-century French text, where it was used as a descriptive moniker for a character known for their bright and cheerful demeanor. However, it is unclear whether this was meant as an actual given name or simply a poetic epithet.
In the 17th century, there are records of a French nobleman named Laray de Montfort, who was born in 1623 and served as a military officer during the Thirty Years' War. His name may have been influenced by the earlier literary reference or could have been a regional variation of a more common French name.
During the 18th century, the name Laray gained some popularity among French aristocratic families, particularly in the regions of Normandy and Brittany. One notable figure from this time was Laray Dumont, a successful merchant and philanthropist who lived from 1735 to 1812 and was known for his charitable contributions to orphanages and schools in Paris.
In the 19th century, the name Laray crossed the Atlantic and started appearing in North American records. One of the earliest documented instances was Laray Beauregard, a French-Canadian explorer and fur trader who was born in 1801 and played a significant role in the expansion of the fur trade in the Pacific Northwest region of what is now Canada and the United States.
Another prominent figure with the name Laray was Laray Sinclair, an American writer and journalist who lived from 1863 to 1944. She was a pioneering female journalist and was known for her insightful reporting on social issues and women's rights during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
While the name Laray has remained relatively uncommon throughout history, it has been carried by individuals from various walks of life, each contributing to the rich tapestry of the name's legacy. Despite its obscure origins, the name Laray continues to evoke a sense of radiance and luminosity, reflecting the enduring appeal of its poetic and enigmatic roots.
People
Laray + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Laray as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with L
Other first names starting with L with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Laray: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Laray?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 699 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Laray going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 490,350 US residents.
Is Laray a common name?
We classify Laray as "Very Rare". It ranks above 87.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 791 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Laray most popular?
The single biggest year for Laray was 1984, when 20 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Laray is about 40 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Laray in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 695 people with the name Laray, or 0.23 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #16,280 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Laray in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Laray?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Laray on both sides of the split. Of the 693 people counted with this name, 341 were male (49.2%) and 352 were female (50.8%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Laray?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Laray is Black at 44.2%. The next largest groups are White (42.4%) and Hispanic (5.2%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Laray most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Laray in the 2020 Census, accounting for 44.2% (307 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Laray in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Laray a male name?
Yes, 52.3% of people registered as Laray in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Laray still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Laray in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Laray can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people are called Laray?
You can see how many Americans are named Laray on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.