Kay
A surname with several possible roots, including a place-name for a quay or a contraction of MacKay in Manx and Scottish usage.
The #1,467 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 12,686 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Kay can have more than one origin. In English records it is often explained as a topographic surname from a quay or landing place, from Middle English and Old Norse words for a wharf or bank. In Manx and Scottish contexts, some 19th-century writers also treated Kay as a shortened form of MacKay. Because the same spelling could arise in different places, the surname is best regarded as having multiple independent origins.
History
The name is well attested in medieval English records, especially in northern and eastern England, and appears in forms such as Ka, Kay, and Kaye. Later writers also associated it with Yorkshire tradition and with Manx families, where Kay was sometimes said to be a shortened form of MacKay. The surname remains fairly common in Britain and has spread widely to North America and other English-speaking regions.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Some old spellings treat Kay and Kaye as interchangeable, while other records connect the same surname to place-names like Kay-side or to a quay by the water.
From the historical record
“ardour] Cp. Mac Kay. O'HEALEY (Celt.) the Ir. O'h-Eilidhe = De- scendant of Eilidh, i.e. the Hind [v. O'-, and + the intervocalic insertion h + the genit. of eilidh, a hind]”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)