Ray

Diminutive of Raymond

"wise protector"

Ray Origin and Meaning

The name Ray is a boy's name meaning "wise protector".

Ray, still and forever, is one of the all-time hippest boys' names, with its jazzy Ray Charles biopic overtones. It's one of the coolest middle names), but works perfectly fine as a first.

The list of noteworthy Rays who have brought glory to their nickname name goes on forever—Bradbury, Romano, Milland (born Alfred), Liotta, and Goulding, to name just a few. Ray might still be short for Raymond or a more unusual formal name such as Rainier or Rayford, but it can also stand on its own.

Ray Rank in US Top 1000

# 761 in the US

Ray Rank in Nameberry Top 1000

# 206 on Nameberry

Ray Popularity

• 761 US 2022
• 206 Nameberry 2024
• 887 Future 2028
• 487 England 2021
• 57 Israel 2020

20 Names Similar to Ray

These 20 names were selected by our users that were looking for other names like Ray.

• Raymond
• Lee
• Jem
• Rey
• Jay
• Rain
• Quincy
• Pine
• Rock
• Sam
• Frank
• Clay
• Zero
• Raven
• Dove
• Dash
• Milton
• Ren
• Ray
• Kay

Famous People Named Ray

• Raymond Albert "Ray" Romano American actor and comedian
• Ray Toro American musician and guitarist
• Ray Charles American musician
• Ray Milland Welsh actor
• Ray Bradbury American author
• Ray Edwards American football player
• Ray Lewis American football player
• Ray Rice American football player
• Ray Bolger American actor known for the Scarecrow in Wizard of Oz
• Stephen "Stevie" Ray Vaughn American singer,songwriter
• Billy Ray Cyrus American musician and starred in Disney's Hannah Montana
• Ray Davies English musician and The Kinks frontman

Ray in Pop Culture

• Robby Ray Stewart character in series "Hannah Montana"
• Ray Brower unseen character in the film "Stand By Me" based on the novella "The Body" by Stephen King
• Ray character from the "Left Behind" series
• Ray character in series one and two of "Girls" (Lena Dunham)
• Ray Brennan from TV series "Las Vegas"
• Ray Stantz character in Ghostbusters and Ghostbusters II, played by Dan Aykroyd
• Ray Crisp/Carter character in Marvel Universe
• Ray Bronson from movie "I Know What You Did Last Summer"
• Ray Wilkins character from Scary Movie
• Ray Palmer aka Atom character in DC Universe
• Ray character in the film "Hidden"
• Mr. Ray spotted eagle ray in Pixar's "Finding Nemo" and "Finding Dory"
• Ray Dimeo awkward nerdy son from TV series 'Speechless'
• Ray the name of one of the personalities of a character from visual novel game "Mystic Messenger"
• Ray Ferrier lead character in 2005 film "War of the Worlds"
• Ray main character in the manga/anime series "The Promised Neverland"