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Roy

Boy Scottish Gaelic #556 in 2023

Roy is a boy name of Scottish Gaelic origin.

Meaning of Roy

From various sources: roy a variant of roi, from rex from h₃rḗǵs. ruadh from rúad, from roudos from h₁rewdʰ-.

Popularity of Roy

Popularity, 1880–2023

526 births in 2023

1880 2023

407,498 U.S. births recorded from 1880–2023. Used for both boys and girls — see notes below.

Peak year

1947

7,592 babies

First recorded

1880

Earliest SSA data

Recent trend

Steady

Last 5 yrs vs. prior 5

Similar names

Boy · Germanic

Bright fame; from 'hrod' (fame) and 'beraht' (bright)

Boy · Germanic languages

From Rycharde, from Richard, from Richardus and Ricohardus, from Rīkahard, from Rīkaharduz, a construction Cognate with t=Richard

Boy · Scottish Gaelic

Name of Scottish kings and an early saint, from Dòmhnall and reinforced by Donvaldus ~ Donaldus, from Domnall, from Dubnowalos

Boy · Scottish Gaelic

Originally used in Scotland, popular in all English-speaking countries in the 20th century

Boy · Germanic languages

Anglicized from Raghnall, itself derived from Rǫgnvaldr, from rǫgn + valdr, later partly merged with the Continental Germanic equivalent Reynold

Little king; descendant of Rían

A book of the Old Testament and the Hebrew Tanakh

Boy · Germanic languages

A number of places elsewhere

About this page

Popularity counts come from the U.S. Social Security Administration's national dataset. Etymology adapted from Wiktionary under CC BY-SA 4.0. If you spot an error, please let us know.