Jay (countable anduncountable,pluralJays)
- (countable)An Englishsurname transferred from the nickname fromOld Frenchjai(“jay(bird)”), a nickname for a chatty or showy person.
- A malegiven name transferred from the surname
- Aplacename
- Ahamlet inLeintwardine parish,Herefordshire,England; named in the c. 13th century for the Jay family, prominent in that area(OS grid ref SO3974).
- A locale in theUnited States.
- Atown inSanta Rosa County,Florida; named for postmaster J. T. Nowling.
- Atown inFranklin County,Maine; named for American statesman and Founding FatherJohn Jay.
- Atown inEssex County,New York; named for John Jay.
- Acity, thecounty seat ofDelaware County,Oklahoma; named for Jay Washburn, nephew of Cherokee leaderStand Watie.
- Atown on the Canadian border inOrleans County,Vermont; named for John Jay.
- Atownship inMartin County,Minnesota.
- Atownship inElk County,Pennsylvania.
- A formersettlement inCalifornia.
Jay (pluralJays)
- Adiminutive of the malegiven namesJames,Jacob,Jack,John, orJason, or for any other name beginning with ⟨J⟩; also used as a formal given name.
2023 June 24, Chris Lau and Sara Smart, “‘That could’ve been us,’ say father and son who pulled out of doomed Titan trip out of safety concerns”, inCNN[1]:“I started to think about it. He’s coming in on a two-seater experimental plane to pitch me to go on a five-seater experimental sub that he has built down to the ocean floor to see the Titanic,”Jay said.
2024 March 17, Daniel Medina and Bob Ortega, “Emails show how a right-wing group steers GOP leaders on major policy issues”, inCNN[2]:When Missouri Secretary of StateJay Ashcroft jumped into the state’s gubernatorial race last year, the Republican vowed to tackle a slew of culture war issues, promising to fight the “woke politics” of “left-wing” banks and touting how he used his position to enact a regulation targeting those financial firms.
- A femalegiven name.
1947, Alpha Delta Pi,The Adelphean, volume40, number 2, page102:To Lt. and Mrs. John Ellingston (Beth Vollstedt), a daughter,Jay Karen, on September 17, 1945.
2007, Gráinne Smith,Families, Carers and Professionals: Building Constructive Conversations:In 1993, my daughterJay returned home aged 21 after a disastrous marriage.
2010, Ray Thompson,Fires Within, page206:Within a few weeks, having endured a number of lengthy interviews,Jay found herself working in the Beijing office of the bureau of information.
Borrowed fromHindiजय(jay, literally“victory”).
Jay (pluralJays)
- (India)A malegiven name from Hindi.
Jay (pluralJays)
- Alternativeletter-case form ofjay.
