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

Jay, 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 Jay surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Jay in America

Jay is the 3604th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Jay surname appeared 9,852 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 3 people would have the surname Jay.

We can also compare 2010 data for Jay 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 Jay

The surname Jay is of English origin and dates back to the 12th century. It is derived from the Old French word "jay," which refers to the bird of the same name. The name is thought to have originated as a nickname for someone who exhibited characteristics similar to the bird, such as being talkative or brightly colored.

The earliest recorded instances of the surname Jay can be found in various historical records, such as the Pipe Rolls of Gloucestershire from 1195, which mention a person named William Jay. The Hundred Rolls of 1273 also include references to individuals with the surname Jay, including Robert le Jay in Oxfordshire.

One of the earliest notable individuals with the surname Jay was William Jay, a 16th-century English Protestant minister and writer, born in 1589 in Wiltshire. He is best known for his work "A View of the Present State of the Protestant Religion," published in 1691.

Another prominent figure was John Jay, an American statesman, and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. Born in 1745 in New York City, he served as the first Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court from 1789 to 1795.

In the literary world, Peter Jay, an English writer and broadcaster, made significant contributions. Born in 1937, he authored several books, including "The Truth about Inflation" and "The Road to Riches."

The surname Jay has also been associated with places, such as Jay County in Indiana, United States, which was named after John Jay, the Founding Father.

One of the earliest recorded spellings of the surname was "Jaye," as seen in the Subsidy Rolls of Sussex in 1296, which mentioned a person named William Jaye.

Other historical figures with the surname Jay include Thomas Jay, an English politician and judge who served as Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench from 1675 to 1683, and Dugald Jay, a Scottish minister and author born in 1779.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Jay

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

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

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

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