Rae
A Scottish surname that may come from a Gaelic patronymic or from the word for a roe deer.
The #6,646 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 60,610 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The surname Rae has two main explanations in the old surname dictionaries. One links it to Gaelic Mac Rae / Mac Ráth, with the prefix dropped; another treats it as a form of the Scottish and northern English word for a roe, the small deer. Lower also notes that a similar word, "rae," appears as an Old English personal name, which may have influenced the surname in some cases.
History
The name is strongly associated with Scotland, especially the Borders and Dumfries-shire, and it also appears in northern England. Historical writers often treated Rae as a short form of longer Gaelic names such as Mac Rae, but also distinguished it from other surnames like Reay or Raye. Because the spelling is very short and phonetic, several different name origins may have converged on the same form.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
19th-century surname writers specifically warned not to confuse Scottish Rae with the Cumberland surname Reay, even though the spellings are close.
From the historical record
“Rcedivig = Fleet Warrior [O.E. (h)rced, swift -|- wzga, warrior] RAE = Ray, q.v. Both daes [does] and roes down [dun] and rsd.— Sir Gray Steill, 2327. RAEBURN (Eng.) DweUer by the Roe-Brook [O.E. rd, a roe + bume^ raffe} ' ^®^''"- ^°™^ °^ '^*'^> Ra'ph, q-v. A squire he had, whose name was Ralph,”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)