Clay

Boy name variations

Family name origins & meanings

• English : from Old English clǣg ‘clay’, applied as a topographic name for someone who lived in an area of clay soil or as a metonymic occupational name for a worker in a clay pit (see Clayman).
• Americanized spelling of German Klee.
• The relatively common English name Clay had several American forebears in the 18th century. Henry Clay, born in Hanover, VA, in 1777, secretary of state for President John Quincy Adams, was descended from English ancestors who came to VA shortly after the founding of Jamestown. The revolutionary war officer Joseph Clay, also a member of the Continental Congress, was a native of Yorkshire, England, who emigrated to GA in 1760 and was a founder of the University of Georgia.

Famous people who gave their babies this name

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