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Bray

♂ Boy

Pronounced BRAY /ˈbreɪ/Medium

Meaning: HillMedium

In 30 seconds: Bray is an English boy's name meaning 'hill.'

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Origin MediumEnglish

MeaningHill

U.S. rank (2025)#2770 ↗ Rising

2025 U.S. births46 boys (0.00% of U.S. boys)

Peak year2024

Total births (all-time)≈ 747

Popularity in the U.S. · SSA data

U.S. births per year (Social Security Administration, 1880–present). Pink marker = peak year.

SSA data updated May 2026. How we source & verify this data.

History & Origin

Bray comes from English with the meaning 'hill,' a place-word turned into a name. It is short and single-syllabled, landing on a clean open vowel. The record keeps to that meaning and origin without further detail.

A one-syllable name like Bray reads modern and trim, easy to pair with longer surnames. Its 'hill' sense gives it a quiet, grounded feel.

Did you know? Bray likely reached first-name use through a surname or place-name route, which gives it that modern borrowed-from-history feel.

Overall data confidence 70%

Behind the Name - Bray — etymology, usage, pronunciation, and related formsU.S. Social Security Administration — 2024 popularity rank and count supplied in the batch input CSV

Variations

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Nicknames

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Famous Bearers

★Bray Wyatt (1987-2023)
American professional wrestler and WWE champion (ring name of Windham Rotunda)

If you like Bray…

Gray— shares the -ay ending

Klay— echoes that soft -ay sound

Blair— shares Bray's English roots

Callaway— shares Bray's English roots

Blue— lands in the same popularity range

Explore names like Bray

By themeenglish unisex surname-style

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Frequently Asked

What does the name Bray mean?

Bray is usually explained as meaning 'hill' and is most often linked with English tradition.

How do you pronounce Bray?

It's commonly said BRAY /ˈbreɪ/.

Is Bray a boy or girl name?

In this batch and in recent U.S. usage data, Bray is used as a boy name.

How popular is Bray?

In 2024, Bray ranked #2789 in the U.S. for boys, with 46 births recorded.