Hays

#5,467 in 2025Boys' name

Brushwood, through Hayes

Hays has been given to 745 babies in the U.S. since 1880. In 2025 it ranked #5,467 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 2024, with 25 recorded.

Babies named Hays, 2025

1 in 195,000

Hays over time, 1880–2025

BoysGirls

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Hays: meaning, origin, and history

Brushwood, through Hayes

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Hays means

Hays belongs to the name family reached through Hays → Hayes. Its meaning is “brushwood”.

Dictionary etymologyReferences, data & attribution

Spelling variant of Hayes, which has multiple origins.

Excerpt from Wiktionary: Hays (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Origin, language, and formation

Hays is used in English.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Hayes.

Pronunciation and spelling

In English, Hays is pronounced /heɪz/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 740 boys were recorded with the name Hays between 1880 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 25 in 2024; its best national rank was #974 in 1880.

Over 5 years its rank fell, from #4,916 in 2020 to #5,467 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank rose, from #5,593 in 2015 to #5,467 in 2025.

In the United States, 5 girls were recorded with the name Hays between 2023 and 2023. Its highest annual count was 5 in 2023; its best national rank was #16,063 in 2023.

How common is Hays?

Everything below is computed from the 2025 data — the most recent year available.

Among all babies, 2025: 1 in 195,000; 17 of 3,315,165 births
Among boys only: 1 in 100,000; <0.01% of boys
Rank, 2025: #5,467; of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size: 135,172 kids; Even odds of a second one

Where Hays sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Liam (20,818)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2025 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%

Class of 30Under 1%

Grade of 100Under 1%

School of 500Under 1%

Put another way: gather 135,172 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Hays. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Hayss were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Hays was born before 1995 — so the typical Hays is around 30 today.

Median birth year: 1995; About 30 years old
Biggest decade: 2010s; 20.7% of all use
Born in the last 25 years: 46.9%; Spread across generations
Recorded since 1950: 447; People you could plausibly meet

Choose a decade

2010s — 20.7% of all recorded uses (153).

Is Hays rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago: −1,228; Places dropped
Rank vs 5 years ago: −551; Places dropped
Rank vs 10 years ago: +126; Places climbed
Births vs 10 years ago: 1.06×; More babies than then
Share of its own peak: 68.0%; Peak was 2024 (25)
Years since peak: 1; Years
Year-to-year steadiness: Volatile; 34.0% average annual change
Best rank ever: #974; 1880

Spellings of Hays

Hays is not the most common spelling — Ray is, with 35.5% against Hays's 0.13%.

Ray35.5%204,701
Jay33.9%195,548
Hayes3.6%20,925
Hank2.9%16,984
Hal2.9%16,784
Hans2.7%15,677
Rhys2.5%14,334
Zayn2.3%13,118

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Where Hays is used

Across 1910–2025, Hays was most concentrated in Arkansas — about 1 in — boys, against 1 in 222,577 across all states with data. It was least common in Texas (1 in —).

00 per 100,000

State popularity map

Most concentrated

1Arkansas1 in —
2Texas1 in —

Shading is the share of that state's recorded boys given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings. Hays has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Hays by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025: #5,467
Trend vs 5 yrs ago: Down 551
Best rank ever: #974; 1880
Peak year: 2024; 25 that year
First recorded: 1880
Last recorded: 2025
All-time count: 740
Count in 2025: 17

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025: Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago: —
Best rank ever: #16,063; 2023
Peak year: 2023; 5 that year
First recorded: 2023
Last recorded: 2023
All-time count: 5
Count in 2025: Under 5

Names similar to Hays

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

Hayk Hayze Haydn Haynes Haydin Haydon Hayzen Hayven Mays Haylen Haytham Hayz Haysen Hayu Haydan Haydyn Haygen Hayato Haydar Hayyan Hayes Hayward Hayston Hayan

Sibling names for Hays

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

For a sister

Annabell Leonor Karleigh Adelle Keren Kendyl Anabel Shaniya

For a brother

Evans Caesar Brennen Tobin Jerimiah Jorden Gavyn Gray

Explore around Hays

Top names of 2024, Hays's peak year The 2020s in full Other names that peaked in 1880 Boys' names starting with H