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The gay Surname

gay Name Meaning and History

  1. English and French: nickname for a lighthearted or cheerful person, from Middle English, Old French gai. In Middle English the term could also mean ‘wanton’, ‘lascivious’ and this sense may lie behind the surname in some instances.
  2. English (of Norman origin): habitational name from places in Normandy called Gaye, from an early proprietor bearing a Germanic personal name cognate with Wade.
  3. probably from the Catalan personal name Gai (Latin Gaius), or in some cases a nickname from Catalan gay ‘cheerful’.
  4. Variant of German Gau.
  5. North German: from a Frisian personal name Gay.

Dictionary of American Family Names, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-508137-4
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The gay name in History

A unique volume of fascinating facts, statistics and commentary following the gay family name as far back in history as possible.

gay Family Facts

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Distribution of gay Families in the US in 1920
Number of gay families
 291-580
 98-290		 1-97
 0
Compiled by Ancestry.com from the 1920 US Federal Census records

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Year

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