Clay is an English surname and a short form of Clayton, which means "clay settlement" or "dweller at the clay pit", from the Old English claeg. Statesman Henry Clay and boxer Cassius Clay, who later became Muhammad Ali, are its most famous American bearers, and the name has a plain, down-to-earth charm. In the United States Clay ranked number 396 in 2000, dipped to number 724 in 2016 and has climbed back to number 573 among boys' names in 2025.