Jay is a boy's name of English origin meaning “in American slang meaning a person.” In 2024 it was given to 819 boys in the United States.
Jay belongs to the English & American tradition. Its meaning — “in American slang meaning a person” — is the sense carried by its English roots, and it is the meaning we verified against published sources for this page.
In the United States, Jay first appears in Social Security records in 1880. It climbed to its best-ever rank of #78 in 1960, and in 2024 819 babies received the name — 194,725 in total since 1880. Those are the official counts, not estimates.
More names from the English & American shelf:
Jay means “in American slang meaning a person” in its English roots. We check every meaning against published sources before it appears here.
Jay is a boy name. In 2024, 819 babies received the name in the US.
Jay comes from the English & American tradition.
Jay first appears in US records in 1880. Its best-ever ranking was #78 in 1960, and 819 babies were given the name in 2024.
Jay is pronounced /d͡ʒeɪ/ (IPA).
Meaning and origin for this page were checked against this source. US popularity figures are from the Social Security Administration's public baby-names data. England & Wales figures are from the Office for National Statistics. If you spot an error, write to [email protected] — accuracy is the whole point of this site, and corrections are made fast.
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