Given name & surname

Chay

“from the fairy place”

Chay is used as a given name and a surname. One interpretation is “from the fairy place.”

Meaning & origin

What it means

One interpretation is “from the fairy place.”

The story

Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 1972. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin.

From dated birth records

Chay through the years

Babies since 1880
429
375 boys · 54 girls
Most popular year
1992
24 babies
2025
0
Outside the ranked list
2021–25 vs 2016–20
—
Too few births to compare
Boys Girls
02.557.510198020002025Highest share 1992Boys 0.0Girls 0.0
Chay in U.S. Social Security birth records, 1972–2025, per million births of each sex. Years with fewer than five births for a sex are not published and appear as zero. Use the arrow keys to step through years.

By the numbers

The most recent published U.S. birth count for boys is 8 in 2016. Later missing counts do not mean the name went unused. Its largest published annual count for boys was 17 in 1992. Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 949 as a first name in 2020; 1,386 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.

Chay’s family of names

Chay has a related form in Chae. Chay has a related form in Chaye. In Greek usage, Chay as a surname is a transliteration of Χάυ.

Walk Chay’s family in the name graph

ChayChaiΧάυChaeChaye

Inner ring: spellings · outer: nicknames and forms.

Hover or tab through the constellation to see how each name is related. Bigger dots are names more people in the U.S. share.

Nicknames & forms 2

Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.

Spellings & scripts 2

The same name written differently, including transliterations into other scripts.

Similar names

If you love Chay, these share its style, era, origin or sound, from outside its own family.

Gaelic · Modern

Daray

“a dark-skinned man”

0Not recently recorded

>99% boys

Gaelic · Modern

Mackay

“the son of fire”

0Not recently recordedSteady

>99% boys

Gaelic · Modern

Mccord

McCord is a surname from Irish, ultimately from Scottish Gaelic.

0Not recently recorded

>99% boys

Old Norse · Modern

Macaulay

“the son of righteousness”

21RareRising fast

>99% boys

Gaelic · Modern

Macauley

“the son of righteousness”

12Very rareRising fast

>99% boys

Gaelic · Modern

Maccoy

“the son of Hugh”

0Not recently recorded

>99% boys

Gaelic · Modern

Dwyer

“a dark and wise man”

0Not recently recorded

>99% boys

Gaelic · Modern

Ernan

0Not recently recorded

>99% boys

Sibling ideas

Names that share Chay’s feel without repeating its first letter or rhyming with it.

A brother for Chay

A sister for Chay