Meaning & origin
What it means
Hoy goes back to Irish Ó hEochaidh, meaning “descendant of Eochaid.”
Adapted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0)
How it developed
From Irish Ó hEochaidh (“descendant of Eochaid”).
Adapted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0)
The story
Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 1880. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin.
From dated birth records
Hoy through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 825
- 825 boys · 0 girls
- Most popular year
- 1923
- 36 babies
- 2025
- 0
- Outside the ranked list
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- —
- Too few births to compare
By the numbers
The most recent published U.S. birth count for boys is 5 in 2022. Later missing counts do not mean the name went unused. Its largest published annual count for boys was 36 in 1923. Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 411 as a first name in 2020; 8,729 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.
Similar names
If you love Hoy, these share its style, era, origin or sound, from outside its own family.
Hines
“God is gracious”
>99% boys
Elroy
“a red-haired young man” · “a king”
>99% boys
Downey
“descendant of Dúnadhach”
>99% boys
Looney
“descendant of Luanach”
>99% boys
Coy
“son of Aodh” · “fire”
>99% boys
Henery
Henery is a surname from Irish.
>99% boys
Tunney
“descendant of Tonnach”
>99% boys
McHenry
“the son of Henry”
>99% boys