Clay

From a Middle English occupational name for a clay worker, or a habitational name, from Old English clǣġ (“clay”).

• IPA^(key): /kleɪ/
• Rhymes: -eɪ

Clay (countable and uncountable, plural Clays)

1. A surname originating as an occupation.
2. A male given name transferred from the surname.
   • 1968, Patrick White, “Clay”, in The Burnt Ones, Penguin Books, page 114:

     When he was about five years old some kids asked Clay why his mother had called him that. And he did not know. But began to wonder.

3. A diminutive of the male given name Clayton.
4. A number of places in the United States:
   1. A city in Jefferson County, Alabama.
   2. A census-designated place in Sacramento County, California.
   3. A home rule city in Webster County, Kentucky, named after Henry Clay.
   4. An unincorporated community in Adair County, Missouri.
   5. A town in Onondaga County, New York, named after Henry Clay.
   6. An unincorporated community in Franklin Township, Jackson County, Ohio.
   7. A census-designated place in Burleson County, Texas.
   8. A town, the county seat of Clay County, West Virginia.
   9. A ghost town in the town of Komensky, Jackson County, Wisconsin.
   10. A number of townships in the United States, listed under Clay Township.
5. Ellipsis of Clay County.

• Clay Center
• Clay County
• Clay Cross

• Lacy, acyl, lacy