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

Gay, 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 Gay surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Gay in America

Gay is the 1094th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Gay surname appeared 32,025 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 11 people would have the surname Gay.

We can also compare 2010 data for Gay 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 Gay

The surname Gay originated from the Old French word "gai", meaning joyful or cheerful. It is believed to have been first used as a nickname for someone with a cheerful or light-hearted demeanor. The name is thought to have its roots in Normandy, France, and was likely brought to England after the Norman Conquest in 1066.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the surname Gay can be found in the Domesday Book of 1086, where it was spelled as "Gai". This historic manuscript, commissioned by William the Conqueror, recorded the names of landowners and their properties throughout England.

In the 13th century, the name appeared in various forms, such as "Gaye", "Gaye", and "Gai", in various records and documents. One notable example is the mention of a John le Gai in the Curia Regis Rolls of 1201, which were records of court proceedings in England.

The surname Gay has also been associated with several place names, including Gay Street in Bath, England, which was named after a prominent local family bearing the name in the 18th century. Another example is the village of Gay in Normandy, France, which may have been the original source of the surname.

Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals with the surname Gay. One of the earliest was Walter de Gay, a Norman knight who fought alongside William the Conqueror at the Battle of Hastings in 1066.

Another noteworthy figure was John Gay (1685-1732), an English poet and dramatist best known for his work "The Beggar's Opera". His satirical plays and poems were highly influential during the Augustan age of English literature.

In the 19th century, Marie François Arouet, better known as Voltaire (1694-1778), a French Enlightenment writer and philosopher, had a close friend named Marie Arouet, who used the surname Gay.

Later, in the 20th century, Peter Gay (1923-2015) was a renowned American historian and scholar who specialized in the study of the Enlightenment and modern European history.

More recently, Marlon Gay Sr. (born 1938) is a former professional basketball player from the United States who played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) and the American Basketball Association (ABA) during the 1960s and 1970s.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Gay

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

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 Gay 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 Gay 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 Gay was researched and written by our team of onomatology and genealogy experts.

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

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