Jay

Spellings & scripts●

Locally spelled ג'יי in IL Israel.

Spellings marked ● are how people bearing the name write it in our records; ○ marks a model's transliteration. Click a spelling to open its page.

Meaning & origin●

Attested across 3 languages in the etymology graph.

Languages●

Language is read off each record's context, not declared by the bearer; a share is of all records for this spelling.

Other names spelled this way◐

Jay is also recorded as 7 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• Hindi given name649K records spelled Jay37 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in India, United States, Philippines, United Kingdom

  Languages: Hindi, Bangla, Urdu

  Also written জায়, Jày, Jãy, Jaý, Jäy

• a separate given name381K records spelled Jay4 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in India, United States, United Kingdom, Canada

  Also written Jaÿ, Jāy, Jăy

• French given name51K records spelled Jay5 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in France, United States, Philippines, United Kingdom

  Also written Jaÿ, Jay', Jáy

• Indonesian given name44K records spelled Jay17 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Philippines, India, Indonesia, United States

  Languages: Indonesian, Malay, Malagasy

  Also written Jäy, Jaý, Jãy, Jåy, Jãý

• Hindi given name21K records spelled Jay142 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in India, United States, Australia, Bangladesh

  Languages: Hindi, English, Bangla

  Also written Jai, Joy, জয়, Jaei, Jaye

• Thai given name13K records spelled Jay8 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Thailand, United States, Philippines, India

  Languages: Thai, Lao

  Also written Jāy, Jäy, Jäý, Jaý, Jáy

• Hungarian given name7.7K records spelled Jay18 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Hungary, United States, Finland, India

  Languages: Hungarian, Finnish, Estonian

  Also written Jãy, Jaý, Jáy, Jàÿ, Jäy

72 further groups record this spelling and are not listed here.

Grouping is the name graph's, not a register's: two spellings join a group when the evidence links them, so a group is a claim about the records rather than about the people.

Other recorded senses●

Jay is also recorded in 5 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• In English, from OFr jay, gai, Fr geai ‘jay’, chatterer; first attested Peter le iai 1195 P (C)

  as a name·A Dictionary of English Surnames

• In English, modern short form, or from Jay bird name

  as a name·Baby names, 25,350 baby names nicknames for your family, friends pets, including the top 100 names, 2,000 most popular…

• nickname from Middle English, Old French jay(e), gai ‘jay’ (the bird), probably referring to an idle chatterer or a showy person, although the jay was also noted for its thieving habits. FOREBEARS!The name is associated with a Huguenot family from La Rochelle, who settled in New Amsterdam.

  as a name·Dictionary of American Family Names

• In English, denoting the bird (AIE, OF jay(e), gai, LL gains, from the personal name Gains', cf. Gay 3), probably referring to an idle chatterer or a showw person, although the jay was also noted for its thieving habits. Vars.: Fr.: Geai(x), Geay, Legeay, Lejay Patrs.: Eng.: Jay(e)s.

  as a name·The Oxford Names Companion - The definitive guide to Surnames, First Names, and Place Names of the British Isles

• In English, denoting the bird (ME, OF jay(e), gai, LLgains, from the personal name Gains; cf. Gay 3), probably referring to an idle chatterer or a showy person, although the jay was also noted for its thieving habits. Vars.: Fr.: Geai(x), Geay, Legeay, Lejay. Patrs.: Eng.: Jay(e)s.

  as a name·A dictionary of surnames

Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.

Over time●

US SSA — National Baby Names (1880–present) — 146 years between 1880–2025. One register's own figures, never a sum across registers: two registers counting the same people would double them.

Notable people with this name●

• Alan Pakulab. 1928USnot in their usual nameAmerican film director, writer and producer (1928–1998)
• Harlan Ellisonb. 1934USnot in their usual nameAmerican writer (1934–2018)
• Stephen Jay Gouldb. 1941USAmerican biologist and historian of science (1941–2002)
• Victor Garberb. 1949CAnot in their usual nameCanadian actor and singer
• Brent Spinerb. 1949USnot in their usual nameAmerican actor
• Jay Lenob. 1950USAmerican television host and comedian (born 1950)
• Jay Insleeb. 1951USGovernor of Washington from 2013 to 2025
• Jay O. Sandersb. 1953USAmerican actor (born 1953)
• David Juliusb. 1955USnot in their usual nameAmerican physiologist and Nobel laureate 2021
• Jay Seanb. 1981GBBritish singer, rapper and songwriter

The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).

Evidence●

Register rows as of the 2026-09-12 data build · 1,152 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Jay?

We estimate roughly 161 thousand people bear Jay (counting its spellings and scripts) across 4 countries in our records.

In which country does Jay have the most bearers?

Jay is most frequently recorded in the Philippines, where it is most often spelled jay.

How common is Jay compared with other names?

In the Philippines, Jay is the 20th most common given name of 462,140 given names recorded there.

Is Jay a male or female name?

Jay is a male name in our records. Opposite-gender entries fall within the cross-gender noise we measure in the source data, so we don't report them as usage.

What does the name Jay mean?

Recorded meaning: from a medieval nickname for a garrulous or ostentatious person, from the bird name.