Given name & surname · also Vietnamese, French
Bay
“resembling a berry”·“from the bay”
Bay is used as a given name and a surname. Interpretations include “resembling a berry”, “the seventhborn child; born during the month of July”, and “from the bay”. These belong to different or overlapping naming contexts.
Meaning & origin
What it means
Interpretations include “resembling a berry”, “the seventhborn child; born during the month of July”, and “from the bay”. These belong to different or overlapping naming contexts.
Where it comes from
This spelling has been associated with French, Vietnamese, and English naming traditions.
The story
Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 1916. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin.
From dated birth records
Bay through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 727
- 204 boys · 523 girls
- Most popular year
- 2013
- 81 babies
- 2025
- 7
- #12,106 for girls
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- −48%
- Cooling
By the numbers
In 2025, this name appeared in 7 U.S. birth records for girls, ranking No. 12,106 among girls’ names. Average annual use for girls was 46.5% lower in 2021–2025 than in 2016–2020. Its largest published annual count for girls was 75 in 2014. Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 2,139 as a first name in 2020; 5,824 as a surname in 2020.
From Social Security birth records and U.S. Census name counts for this exact spelling. Other spellings are counted separately.
Bay’s family of names
In Turkish usage, Bay shares a linguistic root with the Hungarian form VAJK. Bay has a related form in Bai. Bay has a related form in Baye.
Inner ring: nicknames and forms · outer: across languages.
Nicknames & forms 3
Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.
Across languages 1
Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.
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