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Hay Family History

Hay Name Meaning
Scottish and English: topographic name for someone who lived by an enclosure, Middle English hay(e), heye (Old English (ge)hæg, which after the Norman Conquest became confused with the related Old French term haye ‘hedge’, of Germanic origin). Alternatively, it may be a habitational name from any of various places named with this word, including Les Hays and La Haye in Normandy. The Old French and Middle English word was used in particular to denote an enclosed forest. Compare Haywood. This name was taken to Ireland (County Wexford) by the Normans.Scottish and English: nickname for a tall man, from Middle English hay, hey ‘tall’, ‘high’ (Old English heah).Scottish and English: from the medieval personal name Hay, which represented in part the Old English byname Heah ‘tall’, in part a short form of the various compound names with the first element heah ‘high’.French: topographic name from a masculine form of Old French haye ‘hedge’, or a habitational name from Les Hays, Jura, or Le Hay, Seine-Maritime.Spanish: topographic name from haya ‘beech tree’ (ultimately derived from Latin fagus).German: occupational name from Middle High German heie ‘guardian’, ‘custodian’ (see Hayer).Dutch and Frisian: variant of Haye 1.

Source: Dictionary of American Family Names ©2013, Oxford University Press

1,416,178 Historical Documents and Family Trees with Hay on Ancestry.co.uk
290,784 Census and Voter Lists
66,991 Immigration Records
178,864 Birth, Marriage, and Deaths
843,953 Member Family Trees
35,586 Military Records

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Name Distribution of Hay Families

  • Number of Hay families
     366 - 730
     123 - 365
     1 - 122
     
    from the 1891 England and Wales Census Data
  • Number of Hay families
     651 - 1,299
     218 - 650
     1 - 217
     
    from the 1891 Scotland Census Data

Hay census records

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Hay Family Origin

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The information for this chart came from the U.S. Immigration Collection at Ancestry.co.uk. You can find out where the majority of the Hay families were living before they immigrated to the U.S and learn where to focus your search for foreign records.

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Hay Emigration Information (US)

from the New York Passenger Lists

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Hay Emigration Information (AU)

from the Australian Convict Transportation Registers 1787-1868

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Hay Family Occupations

from 1881 UK Census Data

Hay census records

Census records can offer a lot of little known facts about your Hay ancestors, such as occupation.

Occupation can tell you about your ancestors' social status and economic status.

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Military Service by Hay

Did the Hays fight in a war? Military records can tell you a lot about your ancestors including birthplace, occupation and even physical descriptions.

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