Some surname dictionaries list Guay as an orthographical error. The explanations given state that it should be Gué. Gué means "ford" in English and designates a place where one can cross the river without getting his feet wet. "Ford" is also an English surname meaning the same thing. The same is also true in German and other languages. Duguay or Dugué would also direct a visitor to the house of the toll collector for the gué (ford)

Guyet would also be the result of the addition of the suffix "et" to the surname Guy, which would be a token of affection. Gai means "happy" in French and Gay was used with a prefix "le" (LeGay)

Gué however is a surname that was quite present in Brittany at the time of the French Revolution. The surname Gue can be found in different parts of United States, and there are also several in Great Britain. They are all from French descent. Those in England would have immigrated from French Brittany in the XVth century at the time of the religious wars in France. A second wave of immigration came during the French Revolution. .

Our Jean Guay lived in the South West of France. But it is also possible that his family could have moved from Brittany (which is situated in the North of France) at the time of the religious wars.

However another Jean Guay came to New France a few years after our ancestor. His whereabouts in France were in the Paris region. He moved from Quebec City to the Baie St.-Paul area and his descendants are found also in the Lake St. John area and elsewhere, mostly on the North coast of the St.-Lawrence River.

A Gaston Guay also came and lived in the Eastern South Shore region. His descendants are Guay, Gastonguay and Castonguay.

Evolution of surnames is very frequent; Paquet, for example, originally was Pasquier, and Charest or Charrette would originally have been Charet or Chauret. Cholette would be the name given to the farmer who specialized in cabbages for it also designates the field where cabbages are grown.

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