RICHMOND – No county in Missouri or the nation has a shorter name than Ray.

There are many counties with four-letter names, including neighboring Clay, and a few others have three-letter names; but out of 3,141 counties and county equivalents, none has a one- or two-letter name.

Ray is distinct for being the only county in the world so named. The county is named for John Ray. He is believed to have been a Revolutionary War soldier, a surveyor for George Rogers Clark, a friend of Daniel Boone and a state representative in Missouri’s first legislature, which worked to create a state constitution. Ray died in 1820 in St. Louis, a year before Congress approved Missouri for statehood, as granted under the Missouri Compromise. There are two dozen other U.S.

There are two dozen other U.S. counties with three-letter names, but only 13 of those names are different. Half of the 24 counties share a single name, Lee.

Most “Lee counties” are found in the South and are named for Confederate Gen. Robert …