Given name & surname
Foy
“an adventurous man; a journey”
Foy is used as a given name and a surname. One Celtic interpretation is “an adventurous man; a journey.”
Meaning & origin
What it means
One Celtic interpretation is “an adventurous man; a journey.”
Where it comes from
An origin associated with this spelling is Celtic.
The story
Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 1889. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin.
From dated birth records
Foy through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 2,533
- 2,112 boys · 421 girls
- Most popular year
- 1921
- 81 babies
- 2025
- 0
- Outside the ranked list
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- —
- Too few births to compare
Boys, girls and both
The balance of boys and girls given this name has shifted over time. Recent births are 83% boys.
By the numbers
The most recent published U.S. birth count for boys is 6 in 2005. Later missing counts do not mean the name went unused. Its largest published annual count for boys was 68 in 1921. Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 819 as a first name in 2020; 11,976 as a surname in 2020.
From Social Security birth records and U.S. Census name counts for this exact spelling. Other spellings are counted separately.
Foy’s family of names
Foy has a related form in Foye. Foy has a related form in Foi. In French usage, Foy has a conventional equivalent in the Czech form Věra.
Inner ring: spellings · middle: nicknames and forms · outer: across languages.
Nicknames & forms 2
Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.
Spellings & scripts 1
The same name written differently, including transliterations into other scripts.
Across languages 7
Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.
People named Foy
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
Similar names
If you love Foy, these share its style, era, origin or sound, from outside its own family.
Coy
“son of Aodh” · “fire”
>99% boys
Malvin
“a leader” · “a friend who offers counsel”
>99% boys
Floyd
“a gray-haired man”
>99% boys
Norval
“from the northern valley”
>99% boys
Oran
“surrounded by light” · “a pale-skinned man”
>99% boys
Boyd
“a blonde-haired man”
>99% boys
Howell
“a distinguished or eminent man”
>99% boys
Green
“lawn”
>99% boys