Braye Last Name: Meaning and Heraldic Roots

Arms linked to Bray and its spellings were granted to individual families; our heraldry team traces which line they belonged to.

The meaning behind Braye

Ancestors listed as Braye are often found as Bray a generation earlier. The family name meaning is “Hill, or brave”, the same as for Bray.

Braye adds “e” to Bray, a small change that crept in as the name was written down. The same family of names includes Brai and Brey. According to the 2010 US Census, the Braye surname had 242 bearers. French civil records give 1,033 births under the name Braye from 1891 to 2000, peaking in 1951–1960. Births ran at 50 in 1891–1900 and 106 in 1991–2000.

For the full story, order the Braye surname pack.