Meaning & origin
What it means
As an English surname, it goes back to a word meaning “meadow.”
Adapted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Where it comes from
Pray has more than one origin: as an Irish surname, it comes from Irish; as an English surname, it comes from French pré.
Adapted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0)
The story
Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 2013. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin.
From dated birth records
Pray through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 6
- 6 boys · 0 girls
- Most popular year
- 2013
- 6 babies
- 2025
- 0
- Outside the ranked list
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- —
- Too few births to compare
By the numbers
The most recent published U.S. birth count for boys is 6 in 2013. Later missing counts do not mean the name went unused. Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 391 as a first name in 2020; 3,575 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.
Pray’s family of names
In English usage, Pray as a surname has a related form in PREY.
The ring: nicknames and forms.
Nicknames & forms 1
Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.
Similar names
If you love Pray, these share its style, era, origin or sound, from outside its own family.
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