Ray
Ray is ranked 779th among boys in 2024 (322 births). Its best rank was 49th, in 1891.
- Rank in 2024
- #779down 14 from 2023
- Births in 2024
- 3220.02% of boys
- Peak year
- 19263,409 births
- Best rank
- #49in 1891
- Since 1880
- 209,970people given the name
The story in the numbers
204,384 boys have been named Ray in the United States since 1880, according to Social Security records. The busiest single year was 1926, with 3,409 births — 0.31% of all boys recorded that year.
It is holding steady: its share of births has moved by less than half in either direction over ten years (rank 728 → 779).
Half of everyone given the name was born by 1944, and the 1920s alone account for 16%. It has spent 145 of 145 years in the top 1,000, 69 of them in the top 100.
It is overwhelmingly a boy’s name: 5,586 girls have also been given it, 2.7% of the total.
Rank among boys, year by year
By decade
| Decade | boys named Ray | |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | 2,371 | |
| 1890s | 3,763 | |
| 1900s | 4,256 | |
| 1910s | 17,792 | |
| 1920s | 32,045 | |
| 1930s | 30,211 | |
| 1940s | 29,655 | |
| 1950s | 29,914 | |
| 1960s | 22,185 | |
| 1970s | 10,079 | |
| 1980s | 7,838 | |
| 1990s | 5,401 | |
| 2000s | 3,894 | |
| 2010s | 3,365 | |
| 2020s | 1,615 |
In 1926, its biggest year
Ray was the 57th most given boy’s name that year. The top five boys’ names of 1926 were Robert, John, James, William and Charles. See all of 1926.
Names that rose and fell with Ray
Same sex, most similar popularity curve over 145 years, in five-year steps — the shape of the line, not the size.
- Carlpeak 1956
- Nedpeak 1939
- Boydpeak 1922
- Joepeak 1936
- Petepeak 1959
- Roypeak 1947
- Shermanpeak 1950
- Benniepeak 1929
What this page does not tell you. The Social Security data records how many babies were given a name, not what the name means or where it comes from — so neither do we. Counts cover people with a Social Security number; names given to fewer than five babies in a year are withheld. More on the data.