Origin and popularity of the name ROY

Origin

Roy : 1: Scottish: nickname for a person with red hair or a ruddy complexion from Gaelic ruadh ‘red’. Compare Reed.2: English (of Norman origin): from Old French roi ‘king’ used as a nickname (see 3 below) and also as a personal name. Compare Ray 2.3: French and Walloon: from Old French rey roy ‘king’ (from Latin rex) a nickname for someone who lived in a regal fashion or who had earned the title in some contest of skill or by presiding over festivities. This may also be a habitational name from (Le) Roy the name of several places in various parts of France and in Belgium (Wallonia). Compare Deroy and Leroy.4: Germanized or Americanized form of Polish Sorbian Czech and Slovenian Roj or Polish and Sorbian Rój: probably a nickname for an irascible quick-tempered man or perhaps a metonymic occupational name for a beekeeper from Lower Sorbian Czech and Slovenian roj Polish and Upper Sorbian rój ‘swarm (of bees)’.5: Indian (Bengal) and Bangladeshi: variant of Rai.

Deroy : 1: French; Walloon (also De Roy): patronymic with (fused) preposition de ‘of’ from Roy ‘king’ or a habitational name for someone from Roy the name of several places in various parts of France and in Belgium (Wallonia).2: Altered form of French Darois: possibly a habitational name from a place named Darois in Côte-d'Or.3: Dutch (mainly De Roy): variant mostly Americanized (or archaic) and Flemish of De Rooij a variant of De Roo.

Laroy : 1: Walloon and northern French; Flemish (rarely La Roy): topographic name with (fused) French feminine definite article la for someone who lived by cultivated land from Walloon rôye regional French roye ‘furrow’. The surname Laroy is very rare in France where a variant Laroye is more common.2: Altered form of French Leroy with the feminine definite article la instead of masculine le (a change that has at least in part been the result of the American English pronunciation).

Leroy : French and Walloon; Flemish (also Le Roy); Breton (Le Roy): nickname from Old French rey roy ‘king’ (see Roy) with (fused) French definite article le. This may occasionally also be a habitational name from Le Roy the name of several places in various parts of France. Compare Laraway 2 and Laroy.

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Last name frequency

Geographic distribution of the 1,771,575 individuals with the name ROY on Geneanet.

This last name in the family trees

See below the Geneanet members' family trees which contain the last name ROY