Bay Family History

English, French, and Walloon: nickname for someone with chestnut or auburn hair from Middle English, Old French bay, bai ‘reddish brown’ (from Latin badius, used originally of horses). English: from the Middle English personal name Baye, Old English Bēaga (masculine) or Bēage (feminine), both from bēag ‘ring’.

English: topographic name from Middle English bei ‘ring, bend’ (Old English bēag) used topographically for features such as river-bends. German and Dutch: from the ancient Germanic personal name Baio.

South German (Swabia): topographic name from Bai ‘small ravine, hollow’, also ‘reed’. In some cases also a Germanized form of Sorbian Baj: nickname or occupational name from Upper Sorbian baj ‘storyteller’. Compare Bey.

Danish and Norwegian: from a short form of German Bayer or from baygh, originally a loanword from French denoting a type of fabric.

Turkish: ornamental name or nickname from bay ‘rich man’, a word which also acquired meaning ‘gentleman’, analogue to that of the unrelated word bey (see Bey). Chinese: variant Romanization of the surname 馬, see Ma.