Definition of "Gay"

Gay

proper noun
1. An English surname transferred from the nickname, originally a nickname for a cheerful or lively person.
2. A female given name from English from the word gay, "joyful"; rare today.
3. A male given name from English. Also a shortened form of Gabriel, Gaylord and similar names, or transferred from the surname.
  Quotations
  - - - my father's father, Gaetano Talese (whose name I inherited after my birth in 1932, in the anglicized form "Gay"), was an atypically fearless traveler,
  1992, Gay Talese, Unto the Sons, Ballantine Books, published 1993, page 15
  "Mr Gay Brawls. What a name.""It didn't use to mean what it means now. Plenty were named Gay. Even in Nevada. Was old Gay Pitch had a gas station in Winnemucca. Nobody thought nothin about it and he raised a railroad car of kids.
  2004, Annie Proulx, Bad Dirt, Fourth Estate, page 32