Begay
A Navajo surname, widely understood as a surname adapted from a Navajo word or clan-based naming tradition rather than from English occupation or place-name roots.
The #2,053 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 17,589 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Begay is a surname of Navajo origin. In many cases it is explained as an anglicized form of a Navajo name or clan-based identifier, with the exact original Navajo source sometimes varying by family line and historical record. Because Navajo surnames were often fixed in English spelling by government or school records, the modern surname may reflect approximation rather than a single inherited spelling from older European-style naming systems.
History
The surname is especially common among Navajo people in the southwestern United States. Like many Native American surnames, it was often stabilized in written records during the late 19th and 20th centuries, when officials assigned or regularized hereditary surnames. Its high concentration in the U.S. today reflects that history of recording Native names in English orthography.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Begay is one of the more recognizable Navajo surnames in U.S. records and media, and it appears in several spellings depending on how a family name was first written down.