Ray
Feminine
Ray is given to boys far more often — 204,701 boys against 5,606 girls since 1880. See Ray as a boy name
Ray stood inside the American top three hundred and eighty for girls in 1890, which is remarkably high for a name now read as entirely male. It belongs to the nineteenth-century American practice of putting short men's names and family surnames on daughters, and it has three possible sources of its own.
How old is the name Ray?
Ray was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Ray alive today was born around 1927, making them about 98 years old. About 1,800 people named Ray are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Ray most popular?
Ray peaked in 1890, reaching #378 nationally. Today it ranks #6116, 5,738 places below that high. See the whole 1890 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From ragin mund to Ray
Our story of Ray
Short names on girls in the nineteenth century worked differently from the way they work now, and the difference is instructive. A modern parent choosing Ray for a daughter is making a deliberate crossing — the name reads as male and the choice is legible as a choice. In 1890 it was not like that. Short forms and family surnames were used across both sexes without much comment, and a girl called Ray, Bert, Gay or Vern was not being given a boy's name; she was being given a family name in the form the family used. The sorting of names into strictly masculine and feminine lists is largely a twentieth-century development, driven by administrative forms, mass-market naming books and the general standardization that came with both. Names were more fluid before that, and the record from 1890 shows it plainly.
Meaningnot established
Not established
Three routes with different answers. As a short form of Raymond it descends from Germanic ragin, 'counsel, decision', and mund, 'protector'. As a surname it comes from Old French rei or roi, 'king', used as a nickname, or from a place name. As a word it is the ordinary English ray of light, from Latin radius, 'spoke, beam'. On a nineteenth-century American girl any of the three is possible and the record does not say.
How the name formed
- ragin mund
- Raymond
- Ray
Related forms: Rae · Raymonde
Pronouncing Ray
RAY
One syllable, rhyming with day. There is no ambiguity in the spelling and nobody has to be taught it.
Nicknames for Ray
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1880
- Most girls named
- 1916132 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #378reached in 1890
- Change vs 2022
- −34.5%19 in 2025, from 29
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Ray in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Rae in English — spelling variant
- Raymonde in French — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California.
Rays among us
people named Ray are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 84,593 born in 2025 was named Ray
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Ray
- #6116
- Ray on the 2025 chart
- #936
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Ray went to 19 girls in 2025, but Rai is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 24, which makes it the 936th most-given girls’ name of the year — 5,180 places above the chart.
- Ray19
- Rai5
About 1 girl in 66,969 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 84,593 for Ray itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
Fashion outlook
Ray sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Ray beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Ray in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Three letters and one syllable, immediately sayable and spellable.
- It has a documented nineteenth-century American history on girls.
- Rae is available as an alternative spelling that reads as feminine.
- In current use it is overwhelmingly male and will be read that way.
- The Rae spelling is now the usual one on girls, and hers will be written that way.
- One-syllable names leave a bearer with no nickname in reserve.
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What they receive
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Ray
Feminine · #6116 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Rays are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,800 people named Ray are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Ray?
- Ray is the most-used spelling in US records — 19 of the 24 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Rai.
- How popular is the name Ray in 2025?
- Ray ranks #6116 among US girl names in 2025, with 19 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Ray?
- About 1 in every 84,593 US girls born in 2025 was named Ray — 19 in all.
- Will my child share the name Ray with classmates?
- Ray will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Ray
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Alvina#6116 · Mena#6116 · Harvey#6116 · Kellie#6116 · Alden#6116 · Jeanna#6116 · Sammi#6116 · Mamie#6116
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Ray? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Ray and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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