Hay

17,186 people in the United States were counted with the surname Hay in the 2020 census, making it the 2,055th most common in the country. That is about one person in 17,400.

By the numbers

People: 17,186
Rank: 2,055th
How common: 1 in 17,400
Per 100,000: 5.8

Where the name comes from

From Middle English Hay.

Etymology from Wiktionary, used under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Who bears the name

How people with the surname Hay described their own race and Hispanic origin at the 2020 census:

White, not Hispanic 82.4%
Black, not Hispanic 6.8%
Two or more races, not Hispanic 3.8%
Asian or Pacific Islander, not Hispanic 3.5%
Hispanic or Latino 3.2%
American Indian or Alaska Native, not Hispanic 0.3%

Notable people called Hay

John Hay (1838–1905)American statesman
Louise Hay (1926–2017)American writer
Harry Hay (1912–2002)American gay rights activist
Colin Hay (born 1953)Australian musician
Arthur Hay, 9th Marquess of Tweeddale (1824–1878)soldier and ornithologist from Britain
David Hay (born 1948)Scottish footballer and manager
Will Hay (1888–1949)English comedian, actor, film director & astronomer
Danny Hay (born 1975)New Zealand association footballer and manager

People named Hay with articles in the most Wikipedia languages. Data from Wikidata (CC0).

Surnames like Hay

Try it on yourself

Source: US Census Bureau, Frequently Occurring Surnames, 2020. The Census describes the file as the surnames borne by 100 or more people; rarer names are not published. The line is not quite exact, and 617 published names come in under it, the smallest at 92 people. Race and Hispanic origin are self-reported. Rates are worked out against the 298.9 million people the file's own figures are calculated on, which is fewer than the census counted in all: the difference is everyone whose surname was too rare to publish.