Wray
A northern English surname most often linked to a place-name meaning a nook, corner, or sheltered bend.
The #2,367 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 20,042 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Wray is generally a locational surname from northern England. The name is connected with place-names such as Wray in Lancashire and Cumbria, which early writers linked to Old Norse words for a nook, corner, or sheltered recess. In some traditions it is also explained from a term for a corner of land or a bend in the ground, fitting the geography of the places that bear the name.
History
The surname was established in northern England and later spread more widely, especially from Cumbria and Lancashire. 19th-century writers noted that related forms such as Wrey and Wreys could appear in the same families. Some old antiquarian accounts also tried to connect the name with a nickname involving a roe deer, but the place-name explanation is the stronger and more widely accepted one here.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
One historical source says the surname is tied to a place-name at the meeting of two burns, which makes the “corner” sense especially vivid.
From the historical record
“exile, adventurer (mod. 'wretch'] • WRAY 1 (Scand.) Dweller Jn the Corner or ' Nook [©.N. ar^f] Wray or Wrea, N. Lanes, owing its pame to its situation at the confluence of the Hind Burn and Roe Burn, was Wra and Wrae in the 13th cent.”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)