Geneanet > Resources > Family Names > LAY

Origin and popularity of the name LAY

Origin

Lay : 1: English: variant of Lee.2: Scottish: shortened form of McClay.3: German: habitational name from any of the places so named in the Rhineland near Koblenz and in Bavaria from lay(h) a word meaning ‘stone rock slate’.4: French: habitational name from any of several places so named in Loire Meurthe-et-Moselle and Pyrénées-Atlantique.5: Burmese: from a name element originally forming part of a compound personal name denoting the younger sibling. — Note: Since Burmese do not have hereditary surnames this name was registered as such only after immigration of its bearers to the US.6: Chinese: variant Romanization of the surname 雷 see Lei 1.7: Chinese: variant Romanization of the surname 賴 see Lai 1.8: Chinese: variant Romanization of the surnames 李 and 黎 see Li 1 and 2.

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Source : DAFN2 : Dictionary of American Family Names 2nd edition, ©2022 by Patrick Hanks and Oxford University Press
FANBI : The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Family Names in Britain, ©2021, University of the West of England
FANBI : The Oxford Dictionary if Family Names in Britain and Ireland, ©2016, University of the West of England

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Last name frequency

Geographic distribution of the 178,507 individuals with the name LAY on Geneanet.

 

Most found places for the name LAY:

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    See below the Geneanet members' family trees which contain the last name LAY

    mlorgoulloux
    (1,037 individuals)
    mletanou
    (884 individuals)
    sscrignac
    (835 individuals)
    colettebourget
    (832 individuals)

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