boy's name
Roy
ROY
- Origin Scottish Gaelic
- Gender Boy
- Syllables 1
- Letters 3
- Popularity Top 1000 (US)
- Births on record 416,297
the United States
#525
2025 births
Roy is a boy's name with two independent sources — the Gaelic ruadh, meaning red-haired, and the French roi, meaning king. Our data marks it stable, and it charts in six of the seven markets we track.
- Roy is a name of Scottish Gaelic origin.
- Peaked in 1947, when 7,592 babies were given the name.
- Its usage has held steady over the past decade.
- Today about 1 in 5,816 babies in the United States is given this name.
- 1 syllable, with the stress on syllable 1.
Roy over time
Births per decade in the United States, 1880s to 2020s. The striped bar is the 2020s, still in progress — it covers 2020 to 2025, not a full ten years.
Show the numbers
| Decade | Births |
|---|---|
| 1880s | 6,597 |
| 1890s | 9,859 |
| 1900s | 10,714 |
| 1910s | 40,629 |
| 1920s | 63,803 |
| 1930s | 51,876 |
| 1940s | 66,007 |
| 1950s | 62,182 |
| 1960s | 40,308 |
| 1970s | 22,524 |
| 1980s | 14,455 |
| 1990s | 8,601 |
| 2000s | 5,581 |
| 2010s | 5,024 |
| 2020s (to 2025) | 3,171 |
What Roy means
Roy means red or red-haired if taken from Gaelic, and king if taken from French. The two sources are unrelated and both are genuine, so the meaning depends on the family.
Where Roy comes from
Roy arrives twice. In Scotland and Ireland it anglicizes the Gaelic ruadh, red — the epithet of Rob Roy MacGregor, whose byname meant Red Robert and whose fame through Walter Scott's 1817 novel carried the word into general use as a name. Separately, the Norman French roy is an older spelling of roi, king, used as a nickname for someone who behaved regally or played a king in a pageant, and it survives in the surname Roy and in Fitzroy, son of the king. English-language records cannot distinguish the two, so the name carries both meanings depending on ancestry.
Roy in use
Roy peaked in the United States in 1947, when 7,592 babies were registered, and our data marks it stable rather than falling. It now ranks 525th in the United States on 570 births, 635th in Scotland, 730th in England and Wales on 48, 874th in Ireland and 1323rd in France, across 416,297 lifetime births in six of the seven markets we track.
How popular is Roy?
In 2025, Roy was given to 570 babies in the United States, ranking #525 that year. It is a well-established, commonly used name.
Where Roy is used
US figures omit any name given to fewer than five babies in a year, so the rarest names are absent from the source rather than absent from use. Data & sources.
Names that peaked alongside Roy
These names rose and fell in the same era, which is why they tend to sound like they belong together.
Parents who like Roy also like
Names whose popularity has risen and fallen in step with Roy over the last century — the same taste, a different name.
Roy in other languages
The same name as it is spelled elsewhere — not shortenings, and not different names that merely sound alike. Each one has its own record here.
Sibling names for Roy
Names from the same era that won't rhyme or share an initial with Roy — the two things that make a sibling set grate.
Common questions about Roy
What does the name Roy mean?
Red-haired from the Gaelic ruadh, or king from the French roy. Both sources are genuine and unrelated.
What does Rob Roy mean?
Red Robert — roy is the Gaelic ruadh, describing his hair.
Does Roy mean king?
In its French line, yes — roy is an old spelling of roi. The Gaelic line means red instead.
How popular is Roy?
525th in the United States, and our data marks it stable.
Is Roy a girl's or a boy's name?
Roy is given almost entirely to boys in birth records.
How many syllables are in Roy?
Roy has 1 syllable.
Is Roy a good name?
That is not something records can settle, but they can tell you what you would be choosing. Roy currently ranks #496 in the United States. Its usage has held steady over the past decade. Everything else — how it sounds with your surname, who it reminds you of — is yours.