Bay
A unisex name with no widely documented etymology — one syllable, given to 5 babies a year in England and Wales.
Bay by the numbers
In 2025, 5 babies in England and Wales were named Bay. In the US, 27 were, though that figure is from 2017, the most recent full year we hold.
It is used at about the same rate on both sides of the Atlantic.
Its American peak was 75 babies in 2014, making it a 2010s name.
What we can tell you about Bay
Not every name has a meaning to trace. Plenty are coined rather than inherited — invented outright, blended from two names, or respelled from an older one — and where we cannot find an etymology we can stand behind, we would rather say so than make one up. What follows comes from the birth records themselves.
Spelled almost the same
Other names in the records within a letter or two of Bay. Close spellings are not always related names, but they are usually worth seeing together.
- Baby25 in England and Wales (2025)