Jay.
An English surname transferred from the nickname from Old French jai (“jay (bird)”), a nickname for a chatty or showy person.
Meaning & usage
An English surname transferred from the nickname from Old French jai (“jay (bird)”), a nickname for a chatty or showy person.
A male given name transferred from the surname.
A placename. A hamlet in Leintwardine parish, Herefordshire, England; named in the c. 13th century for the Jay family, prominent in that area (OS grid ref SO3974).
A placename. A locale in the United States. A town in Santa Rosa County, Florida; named for postmaster J. T. Nowling.
A placename. A locale in the United States. A town in Franklin County, Maine; named for American statesman and Founding Father John Jay.
A placename. A locale in the United States. A town in Essex County, New York; named for John Jay.
A placename. A locale in the United States. A city, the county seat of Delaware County, Oklahoma; named for Jay Washburn, nephew of Cherokee leader Stand Watie.
A placename. A locale in the United States. A town on the Canadian border in Orleans County, Vermont; named for John Jay.
A placename. A locale in the United States. A township in Martin County, Minnesota.
A placename. A locale in the United States. A township in Elk County, Pennsylvania.
A placename. A locale in the United States. A former settlement in California.
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.
Where this word comes from
Borrowed from Hindi जय (jay, literally “victory”).
Alternative letter-case form of jay.
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.