Wray

Wray is the 2,347th most common surname in the United States, shared by 15,139 people at the 2020 census. That is about one person in 19,700.

By the numbers

People: 15,139
Rank: 2,347th
How common: 1 in 19,700
Per 100,000: 5.1

Where the name comes from

Origin Old Norse

From Old Norse vrá (“nook, corner, recess”).

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

Who bears the name

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

White, not Hispanic 78.7%
Black, not Hispanic 12.5%
Two or more races, not Hispanic 4.6%
Hispanic or Latino 2.9%
Asian or Pacific Islander, not Hispanic 0.7%
American Indian or Alaska Native, not Hispanic 0.6%

Notable people called Wray

Tera Wray (1982–2016)American pornographic actress

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

Also a first name

Wray has been given to 882 American babies as a first name since 1906, peaking in 1927. See it as a given name.

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.