This surname is derived from a nickname. 'the roe'; compare Stagg, Buck, Roebuck, and Scottish Rae, which see. North English, ra; Anglo-Saxon rah. Such sobriquets were highly popular and gladly retained, being of a complimentary character.

Reginald le Raye, Oxfordshire, 1273. Hundred Rolls.

Nicholas le Ray, Suffolk, ibid.

Richard le Ray, Cambridgeshire, ibid.

William le Ray, Somerset, 1 Edward III: Kirby's Quest.

John le Ray, Somerset, 1 Edward III: ibid.

Etheldreda le Ray, Close Rolls, 17 Edward III.

(2) Local, 'of the Wray'; v. Wray. This would inevitably be stripped of the initial 'w' in many cases.

1790. Married — Robert Ray and Elizabeth Arlington: St. George, Hanover Square.

This surname is derived from a geographical locality. 'at the wray,' i.e. in the corner, from residence therein (v. Wroe). Ray in North Lancashire, represents Wray as a surname, although surrounded with numberless spots called Wray, or of which Wray is an element. This word means a corner (as of a field or yard) or secluded place. Mr. Atkinson (N. and Q. 1885) finds a case of 'in le Wra' or 'del Wra' translated into 'in angulo' and 'in le heme' (v. Hearn and Nangle), and quotes 'Roger in le Wra' in Whorlton, 'Walter del Wra,' in Marske, and 'Robert in le Wra' in Thorgenby (1301). (Taxatio quindecimoe D'no Regi concessor in Com. Ebor. in parte de Northridinge.) Among the compounded place-names are Dockwray, Whin-wray, Capon-wray, and Thack-wray, all self-explanatory; compare.

Isabel Dockraye, 1560: Lancashire Wills at Richmond.

John Whinwray, of Dalton, 1591: ibid.

Antony Sawraye, of Plumpton, 1623: ibid.

John Blackburne, of Caponwray, 1636: ibid.

In fact, the compounds are many; compare.

Johannes de Somerscalewra, et uxor, 1379: Poll Tax of Yorkshire.

Johannes de Somerscale, junior, et uxor, 1379: ibid.

Amongst many instances I select the following:

Thomas del Wra, 1379: Poll Tax of Yorkshire.

1598. Married — Thomas Johnson and Jane Wraie: St. James, Clerkenwell.

1616. — Richard Phelke and Elizabeth Raye: ibid.

1640. — Edward Wraye and Elizabeth How: ibid.

Thomas filius Ray witnessed confirmation by Alexander, son of Walter, of his fathor's gift to the church of Paisley, 1239 (RMP., p. 225). John Ray held a tenement in Glasgow in 1487 (REG., p. 454), and William Ray, burgess of Edinburgh, had a safe conduct into England in 1465 (Bain, IV, 1361). Sir William Ray is recorded in 1530 as "vmquhyle chaplane to our lady chappell of the brig of Dei" (CRA., p. 129), and William Ray had a charter of six acres of land in the burgh of Kethik from the Abbey of Coupar-Angus, 1558 (Cupar-Angus, II, p. 169-170). The surname is also found in Stirling in 1546. See also Rae.

1 (Scandinavian) Dweller in the Corner or Nook [Old Norse urá] Wray or Wrea, N. Lancs, owing its name to its situation at the confluence of the Hind Burn and Roe Burn, was Wra and Wrae in the 13th cent.

Thomas del Wra.—Yorks Poll-Tax, A.D. 1379.

Cp. Wroe.

2 for Ray, q.v.

This is sometimes a synonym of Rea, but usually it is the name of Elizabethan settlers in Ulster. MIF 203

(English) One who came from Wray (isolated place), the name of several places in England.

The estate of Gill, in the parish of Bromfield, co. Cumberland, belonged to the family of Reay, or Ray, from the time of William the Lion, king of Scotland, who died in 1214. Tradition says, that the original Ray was a faithful adherent of the Scottish monarch, by whom he was greatly esteemed, for his extraordinary swiftness of foot in pursuing the deer (which, like that of the Homeric hero, ποδας ωκνς Αχιλλενς, exceeded that of most horsemen and dogs) and who gave him the estate. The tenure was by a pepper-com rent, with the stipulation, that the name of William should be perpetuated in the family. This was strictly observed from generation to generation, until the latter half of the last century, when the Mr. William Reay in possession gave to the ' hope of the house ' the name of John. From these Reays have sprung most, if not all, the Rays, Wreys, and Wrays, in England. John Ray, the naturalist, originally wrote himself Wray, and his ancestors, who but a generation or two before had emigrated from Cumberland, spelt their name indifferently Wray or Wrey. The surname itself was probably borrowed from the sobriquet of William the Lion's fleet-footed vassal, Ha, or raa, being the Anglo-Saxon, and rae the Lowland Scottish for a roe. Hutchinson's Cumberland, 1794, vol. ii. p. 302. The fish called a ray was so named after the great naturalist.

This name may have several origins. Ruadh and Reagh, Gaelic, swarthy, red, sandy complexioned. De, the moon. Bay, a beam of light, luster. De, from ruo, to rush, applied to a stream, rapids, whence the river Reay, in Caithness, Scotland. Rea, Cornish-British, wonderful, strange. Rhe, Welsh, a run, Rhedu, to run. Rhae, Welsh, a battle, the place of a battle; a chain.

Wray: a corner set apart, as Thackeray, the place apart for storing thatch; also Wroe.

The Wrays have their present home in the York district. John Wray was sheriff of Hall in 1790 (T. H.). There are villages of this name in North Lancashire.

Riay: Riay and Rea are the Northumberland forms of a name confined mostly to the north of England and the Scottish borders. Wray is its form in York and its vicinity. In Cumberland we find Reay and Ray; in the Scottish border counties Rae is the characteristic form; and in the distant county of Worcester there are a few of the name of Rea. The Reays or Rays, who have held the Gill estates in the parish of Bromfield, Cumberland, from the 13th to the present century, are believed by Lower to be the ancient stock of all the English Rays, Wrays, and Wreys.