Family name origins & meanings
- German : see Arey.
- Possibly also Northern English : habitational name from a minor place named with Old Norse Eyrará ‘gravel-bank stream’, such as Aira Beck in Cumbria.
- Cutlip Airey, recorded in 1782 in Augusta Co., VA, is also found as Gatlive Airy and Gottlieb Arey.