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Quoted from Ray-Rhea-Rea-Wray Surname Project on FTDNA.
Original text by:
Jonathan Blakey, Project Administrator - Ray-Rhea-Rea-Wray Surname Project, on the project's home page at FTDNA.com
"Information about the meaning of the surname is from: The Dictionary of American Family Names, edited by Patrick Hank. Oxford University Press, 2005.
1. English (of Norman origin): nickname denoting someone who behaved in a regal fashion or who had earned the title in some contest of skill or by presiding over festivities, from Old French rey, roy ‘king’. Occasionally this was used as a personal name.
2. English: nickname for a timid person, from Middle English ray ‘female roe deer’ or northern Middle English ray ‘roebuck’.
3. English: variant of Rye (1 and 2).
4. English: habitational name, a variant spelling of Wray.
5. Scottish: reduced and altered form of McRae.
6. French: from a noun derivative of Old French - raier ‘to gush, stream, or pour’, hence a topographic name for someone who lived near a spring or rushing stream, or a habitational name from a place called Ray.
7. Indian: variant of Rai.
8. Spanish: Rey, Hebrew origin
Some of you may have Irish ancestry. According to Edward MacLysaght's Guide to Irish Surnames, Ray may be a corrupt form of Reavey or a variant of Rea or Wray. Rea is a version of MacCrea, Reagh, Reavey and Wray."
Apologies for any infractions in citation. The entire text was edited to remove statements not directly related to the origin of the Ray name or variants.
Dwight Ray
dwight.ray@att.net