Topics

• About the Kay One-Name Study
• Origin of the surname
• Historical occurrences
• Distribution of the name
• DNA project
• Links
• Contact Details

About the Kay One-Name Study

My interest in the Kay family started through helping my wife, who was born a Kay, with her family history. She took me along to meetings of the Kay Family Association UK where my interest grew but it was not until I discovered that I had Kays in a branch of my maternal family tree that I started researching the name seriously. I have been collecting occurrences of the Kay(e) name since 2005, joined the Guild of One Name Studies in 2007 and registered the one name study in 2008.

Origin of the surname

A variety of explanations for the name have been put forward:-

 The Middle English “Kei”, from the Danish dialect “Kei”, meaning left-handed or left-footed, possibly a nickname for a clumsy person

 The Middle English “Ka”, “Kae” or “Kay” from the Old Norse “Ka”, meaning a jackdaw, presumably a nickname for someone who sounded like a jackdaw.

 Possibly the name for a key-bearer

 The Old French “Kay” and Middle English “Kay, “Key” or “Keay”, meaning a quay; possibly indicating residence near or employment at a wharf or quay

 The Old Welsh “Kei”, from the Latin “Caius”.

More recently the name has also been adopted by many immigrants to English-speaking countries who originally had non-English surnames beginning with the letter “k”.

The earliest recorded occurrences of the Kay name in England appear in Norfolk (1197), Northants (1199), Gloucestershire (1199), London (1207), Yorkshire (1219), Lancashire (1246), Worcestershire (1275), Sussex (1296), Suffolk (1327), Staffordshire (1331), Cumberland (1484), Cambridgeshire (1492), Somerset (1500) and Lincolnshire (1506). The widespread distribution of the name at such early dates indicates that there is unlikely to have been a single common ancestor for all Kays and that the name may well have appeared spontaneously in a number of places, no doubt for a variety of reasons.

Historical occurrences

There have been may notable holders of the Kay(e) surname throughout history:

John Kay (c. 1482) - “poete lawreate” of Edward IV

John Kay (1704 – c.1780) – inventor of the flying shuttle

John Kay (1742 – 1826) - portrait etcher and miniature painter

Sir James Phillips Kay (1804-1877) – educational reformer

Distribution of the name

The highest concentration of the Kay surname is to be found in Lancashire around Bury, Bolton and Blackburn. Kaye, on the other hand, is found in Yorkshire particularly in the Huddersfield area

DNA project

The Kay Family Association UK has joined with the Key Family DNA project at FamilyTree DNA to explore links between the Kay/Kaye/Key families.

Links

The Kay Family Association UK website containing details of membership and the annual Kay Reunion can be found at www.kayfamilyassociationuk.com.

Contact details

For further information, contact:

Mr Geoffrey Fitzpatrick
1 Rowan Way,
Canewdon,
Rochford,
Essex
SS4 3PD
UNITED KINGDOM
E-mail:
Telephone: 01702 258403

This page last updated 13 January 2012.

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Profiles of other one-name studies registered with the Guild may be found here.