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

Thay, 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 Thay surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Thay in America

Thay is the 104156th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Thay surname appeared 172 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 Thay.

We can also compare 2010 data for Thay 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 Thay

The surname "THAY" is believed to have originated in Germany during the 13th century. It is thought to be derived from the Old German word "thau," which means "dew." This suggests that the name may have initially referred to someone who lived near a dewy area or had some association with dew.

The earliest recorded mention of the surname "THAY" can be found in the Codex Diplomaticus Saxoniae Regiae, a collection of historical documents from Saxony, dating back to 1287. In this record, a person named "Henricus Thay" is mentioned as a landowner in the town of Meissen.

During the 14th century, the name "THAY" appeared in several other German records, including the Stadtbuch von Goslar, a document from the city of Goslar, which mentions a "Johannes Thay" in 1375.

In the 15th century, the name "THAY" began to spread beyond Germany to other parts of Europe. One notable individual from this time period was Hans Thay, a German painter and woodcarver who lived from around 1440 to 1502.

As the centuries passed, the surname "THAY" continued to be found in various records and documents across Europe. In the 16th century, a man named Mattheus Thay, born around 1530 in the town of Koblenz, Germany, became a renowned scholar and theologian.

In the 17th century, the name "THAY" appeared in the town records of Speyer, Germany, where a family of merchants and traders bearing the surname lived and worked.

During the 18th century, a notable figure with the surname "THAY" was Johann Gottfried Thay, a German composer and organist who lived from 1722 to 1797. He is remembered for his contributions to the development of church music in Germany.

In the 19th century, the name "THAY" gained prominence in France, where a family of artists and sculptors bearing the surname resided in Paris. One of the most famous members of this family was Auguste Thay, born in 1832, who became a renowned sculptor and created several notable works for public spaces in Paris.

While the surname "THAY" has its roots in Germany, it has since spread to other parts of the world, including the United States, Canada, and Australia, as people with this name immigrated and settled in these countries over the centuries.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Thay

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

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

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

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