Ray

Diminutive of Raymond, word name, English

"wise protector; beam of light"

Ray Origin and Meaning

The name Ray is a boy's name meaning "wise protector; beam of light".

Simple, short, and cool, Ray gives off retro vibes thanks to its 20th century popularity, and its links to jazzy Ray Charles and Ray-Ban sunglasses. A popular middle name for boys, it is well established as a given name too.

Derived from the Germanic Raymond, it means "wise protector", but it could also be seen as a word name, with ties to nature and science, as in a ray of light, a sun ray, a sting ray, or an X-ray.

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.

In the US, it has seriously declined in use since its 20th century popularity and now sits at the latter end of the charts. At least 300 boys still receive the name each year however, and the longer form Raymond remains in the Top 400.

Ray Rank in US Top 1000

# 769 in the US

Ray Rank in Nameberry Top 1000

# 228 on Nameberry

Popularity of the name Ray

• 769 US 2023
• 228 Nameberry 2025
• 887 Future 2028
• 542 England 2023
• 88 Israel 2023

20 Names Similar to Ray

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

• Noel
• Ronnie
• Jay
• Toby
• Tommy
• Billy
• Lee
• Duke
• Jamie
• Wayne
• Will
• Romeo
• Joey
• Clay
• Bobby
• Zeke
• Frankie
• Eddie
• Quintin
• Glen

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

The name 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"