Find out how popular the last name Chay is in the United States and learn more about the meaning, history, and race and ethnic origin of people in America who are named Chay.

Chay, like all of the last names we have data for, is identified by the U.S. Census Bureau as a surname which has more than 100 occurrences in the United States in the Decennial Census survey. The most recent statistics we have for the Chay surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Chay in America

Chay is the 21535th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Chay surname appeared 1,212 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 0 people would have the surname Chay.

We can also compare 2010 data for Chay to data from the previous census in 2000. The table below contains all of the statistics for both years in a side-by-side comparison.

The history of the last name Chay

The surname Chay originated in the Brittany region of northwestern France, likely during the Middle Ages. It is derived from the Old Breton word "kae," meaning a fence or enclosure, suggesting that the name may have referred to someone who lived near or worked with fences or enclosures.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Chay can be found in the Cartulaire de Redon, a collection of medieval charters and deeds from the Breton monastery of Redon, dating back to the 9th century. In this document, a person named "Haeloc Chay" is mentioned as a witness to a land transaction.

During the 11th century, the name appears in various forms in the Domesday Book, a comprehensive survey of land ownership and taxation in England commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086. The name is recorded as "Caius" and "Chaius," likely representing different spellings of the same Breton name.

In the 13th century, a notable figure named Olivier Chay was a prominent merchant and landowner in the city of Rennes, Brittany. He is mentioned in several municipal records from that era, indicating the wealth and influence of the Chay family in the region.

Another notable bearer of the Chay surname was Jean Chay, a French soldier and explorer born in 1602. He accompanied the famous explorer Samuel de Champlain on several expeditions to the New World, and his accounts of these voyages provide valuable insights into the early colonial history of Canada and the northeastern United States.

In the 18th century, a French playwright and poet named Pierre Chay gained recognition for his satirical works critiquing the aristocracy and the excesses of the French court. Born in 1722 in Paris, his plays and poems were widely circulated and contributed to the growing intellectual ferment that eventually led to the French Revolution.

Throughout the centuries, variations of the Chay surname have also been found in other regions, such as "Chaye" in England and "Chai" in Germany, suggesting that the name may have migrated and evolved over time as a result of cultural and linguistic influences.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Chay

We also have some data on the ancestry of people with the surname Chay.

The below race categories are the modified race categories used in the Census Bureau's population estimates program. All people were categorized into six mutually exclusive racial and Hispanic origin groups:

1. White only
2. Black only
3. American Indian and Alaskan Native only
4. Asian and Pacific Islander only
5. Hispanic
6. Two or More Races

For the most recent 2010 census data, the race/ethnic origin breakdown for Chay was:

Note: Any fields showing (S) means the data was suppressed for privacy so that the data does not in any way identify any specific individuals.

Since we have data from the previous census in 2000, we can also compare the values to see how the popularity of Chay has changed in the 10 years between the two census surveys.

Data source

The last name data and ethnic breakdown of last names is sourced directly from the Decennial Census survey, conducted every 10 years by the United States Census Bureau.

The history and meaning of the name Chay was researched and written by our team of onomatology and genealogy experts.

If you have a correction or suggestion to improve the history of Chay, please contact us.

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