Jay

Where Jay comes from

Borrowed from Hindi जय (jay, literally “victory”).
— Wiktionary's entry for Jay
  • Hindi
  • 1 syllable
  • Vowel-ended
Along the way
  1. 1880
    First SSA year
    Already #126 among boys — 103 babies in the first year on record.
  2. 1950
    Jay Leno born
    American television host and comedian
  3. 1960
    Peak, #78
    5,385 babies named Jay — more than any year before or since.
  4. 1972
    The fade
    The first year with half the peak's births — down to #115.
  5. 1982
    Jay Bothroyd born
    English association football player
In the dictionary
  • A male given name transferred from the surname.
  • A diminutive of the male given names James, Jacob, Jack, John, and Jason, or for any other name beginning with ⟨J⟩; also used as a formal given name.
  • A female given name.
  • A male given name from Hindi.
Namesakes
  • Jay Leno · American television host and comedian, born 1950
  • Jay Bothroyd · English association football player, born 1982
  • Jay Baruchel · Canadian actor, born 1982
  • Jay Mohr · American actor and comedian, born 1970
  • Jay Sean · British singer, rapper and songwriter, born 1981

Sources: the origin note and dictionary entry are quoted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0); the namesakes come from Wikidata (CC0); the milestones are worked out from the SSA record.