Updated June 9, 2019

Find Baby Names

Girl name origins & meanings

  • French : Merry

Girl name variations

Gaye

Gaye

0 % this year
Feminine
Rare
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Gae

Gae

0 % this year
Feminine
Rare
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Gai

Gai

0 % this year
Feminine
Rare
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Gaea

Gaea

0 % this year
Feminine
Rare
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Gaia

Gaia

+ 3% this year
Feminine
Rare
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How Popular Is The Name Gay

Family name origins & meanings

  • English and French : nickname for a lighthearted or cheerful person, from Middle English, Old French gai. In Middle English the term could also mean ‘wanton’, ‘lascivious’ and this sense may lie behind the surname in some instances.
  • English (of Norman origin) : habitational name from places in Normandy called Gaye, from an early proprietor bearing a Germanic personal name cognate with Wade.
  • probably from the Catalan personal name Gai (Latin Gaius), or in some cases a nickname from Catalan gay ‘cheerful’.
  • Variant of German Gau.
  • North German : from a Frisian personal name Gay.
  • A Congregational clergyman and one of the forerunners of the Unitarian movement in New England, Ebenezer Gay (1696–1787) was born in Dedham, MA, which had been founded by his grandfather, John Gay, who came to America from Wiltshire, England, about 1630 and settled in Watertown, MA. Ebenezer’s great-grandson Howard was editor of the American Anti-Slavery Standard.