Clay - Meaning of Clay

What does Clay mean?

Pronounce
Clay

[ 1 syll. clay, cl-ay ] The baby boy name Clay is pronounced as KLey- †. Clay is an English name of English and Old English origin. English origin: It is from the words 'clay' ; 'claeg' meaning clay. The first name is derived from the surname. The surname could have been given to someone who lived near a clay ground, or else it could be from a job title for someone who worked with clay.

In addition, Clay is a contraction of the English name Clayton.

The name Clae, the name Clai, the English Claye, the name Klay, and the name Klee are derivatives of Clay.

See also the related categories, title and english.

Clay is a classic favorite. Today it is still rather popular as a baby boy name, but not to the degree it was previously. The name jumped in popularity from the 1940s up to the 1960s. At the height of its usage in 1960, 0.042% of baby boys were given the name Clay. It was #263 in rank then. The baby name has seen a decline in frequency since then. In 2018, its usage was 0.018% and its ranking #687. Within the family of boy names directly linked to Clay, Clayton was the most regularly used. In 2018, it was 4 times more commonly used than Clay.

Baby names that sound like Clay include Claye, Klay, Cael, Cail, Caile, Cal, Cale, Calle, Cayl, Cayle, Cayll, Clai, Cli, Cloi, Cloy, Cloye, Clu, Cly, Coal, and Coale.

† Pronunciation for Clay: K as in "key (K.IY)" ; L as in "lay (L.EY)" ; EY as in "ate (EY.T)"

A famous person named Clay is Clay Aiken, Talent Show Contestant, born Clayton Holmes Grissom 30 November 1978, Chapel Hill, North Carolina.