Geneanet > Resources > Family Names > ROY

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.

More

Source : DAFN2 : Dictionary of American Family Names 2nd edition, ©2022 by Patrick Hanks and Oxford University Press

Subject to the Terms and Conditions of Ancestry

Last name frequency

Geographic distribution of the 1,856,703 individuals with the name ROY on Geneanet.

 

Most found places for the name ROY:

    This last name in the family trees

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

    devalter
    (6,439 individuals)
    marcelf
    (6,233 individuals)
    paul42
    (5,084 individuals)
    monartque
    (5,046 individuals)

    Search another name

    Search 9 billion individuals

    Search 9 billion individuals

    Search the name of your ancestors and your family in a database of 9 billion indexed individuals on Geneanet.

    Search ROY

    Start your family tree

    Start your family tree

    Create your family tree and take advantage of valuable tips to help you search your ancestors.

    Start your family tree

    Variants of name ROY

    ROI