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Clay Surname Origin

Locality. A town of France in Seine. A lake on the isle of Lewis, Scotland. Clee, hills in Wales. Cle, left-handed, a place lying to the left, in relation to another place. Cledh, cloid, and cladd, in the Gaelic, Welsh, and British, signify a ditch, a trench, a wall; cladh, a church-yard; cledd, Welsh, a sword; Gaelic, claiheamb, from which we have Claymore, a large sword. The same word in Welsh and Gaelic that signifies a river is often applied to a sword, from their resemblance in glittering brightness.

Source: An Etymological Dictionary of Family and Christian Names With an Essay on their Derivation and Import; Arthur, William, M.A.; New York, NY: Sheldon, Blake, Bleeker & CO., 1857.


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Clay Last Name Meaning   



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Clay in Ancestry.com Records
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Clay at the Mormon LDS Database
Trace your Clay family in the vast resources of the Mormon LDS genealogy online databases which includes the Ancestral File, transcribed census records, and the International Genealogical Index.


Clay at RootsWeb databases
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Clay in RootsWeb surname mailing lists
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Clay in Ancestry Message Boards
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Clay in Ancestry Family Histories
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Clay Self-Published Genealogy Books
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