Bays
An English surname that can come from a place by a bay or from a topographic word meaning a pond or hollow.
The #5,287 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 46,865 Americans shares it.
Etymology
This surname is usually explained as topographic or locational. One historical source links it with the English word bay in the sense of a pond, pool, or small inlet, while another treats it as a local name meaning someone who lived by a bay, hollow, or enclosed place. The same spelling may also overlap with other surnames such as Bayes or Baye, so not every family called Bays necessarily shares a single origin.
History
The name appears in English records in forms like atte Bey and later Bays, especially in eastern and southern counties. Because spelling was fluid for centuries, Bays has often been written alongside Bayes, Baye, and related forms. In some cases it may have been influenced by place-names or by surname variants that later converged in spelling.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
A 1916 surname guide specifically notes Bays as a common Cambridgeshire name.
From the historical record
“UDB. (eo. Ewi), i, 0 ; London. Os >. Hoy, Bays, HaTei.—Local, 'at the hay,' i.e. the haw or hedge, an enclosure ; cf. Hayward or Haward, a hedge-ward ; v. Maig and Hawe. The popular form in the North of England was Haig,”
— A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames, with special American instances