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

Arthur, William (1857) An Etymological Dictionary of Family and Christian Names. New York: Sheldon, Blakeman. Public Domain.

RAY. The estate of Gill, in the parish of Bromfield, co. Cumberland, belonged to the family of Reay, or Ra_y, from tlie 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, woSa ii}KVQ 'AxitvQ, exceeded that of most horsemen and dogs) and who gave him the estate. The tenure was by a pepper-corn rent, with the stipulation, that the name of William should be perpetuated in the familj-. 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 Reaj-s 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 Cumbei"land, spelt their name indifferently Wray or Wrey. The surname itself was probably borrowed from the sobriquet of William the Lion's fleet-footed vassal, lia, or raa. being the A-Sax., 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. There are several Le Rays in H.R.

Lower, Mark A (1860) Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom. London: J.R. Smith. Public Domain.