Roy

See also: roy

English

Etymology

From various sources:

• Anglo-Norman roy (“king”) a variant of Old French roi, from Latin rēx, rēgem from Proto-Indo-European *h₃rḗǵs (“ruler, king”). Doublet of Rey.
• Scottish Gaelic ruadh (“red, red-haired”) from Old Irish rúad, from Proto-Celtic *roudos from Proto-Indo-European *h₁rewdʰ-.
• Anglicisation of Bengali রায় (raẏ, surname).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ɹɔɪ/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔɪ
• Homophone: Roi

Proper noun

Roy (countable and uncountable, plural Roys)

1. (countable) A male given name from Scottish Gaelic.
   • 2003, Minette Walters, Disordered Minds, Macmillan., →ISBN, page 173:

     - - - The real pity is that the only name William Burton remembers is Roy ...it was a popular name in the fifties and sixties so there were probably quite a few of them."
     "Not that popular," said George. "Surely it's Roy Trent?"
     "Roy Rogers...Roy Orbison... Roy of the Rovers...Roy Castle..."
     "At least one of those was a comic-book character," said Andrew.
     "So? Bill Clinton and David Beckham named their children after places. All I'm saying is we can't assume Roy Trent from Roy."

2. (countable) A surname.
   1. A surname from Anglo-Norman.
   2. A surname from Old French.
   3. A surname from Scottish Gaelic.
   4. A surname from Bengali.
3. A placename
   1. A city in Utah, United States.
   2. A river and glen (see Glen Roy) in Highland council area, Scotland, United Kingdom

Derived terms

• Roybridge
• Roy Bridge

 

Descendants

• → French: Roy
• → Norwegian: Roy
  • → Norwegian Nynorsk: Roy
  • → Norwegian Bokmål: Roy
• → Swedish: Roy

Statistics

• According to the 2010 United States Census, Roy is the 640^th most common surname in the United States, belonging to 53,159 individuals. Roy is most common among White (75.20%) individuals.

Anagrams

• -ory, yor

French

Etymology 1

Inherited from Old French roy (literally “king, ruler”). Doublet of roi.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʁwa/

• audio

  (file)

• Homophones: roi, rois, roua, rouas, rouât

Proper noun

Roy m or f

1. a surname

Descendants

• English: Roy

Etymology 2

Borrowed from English Roy.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʁɔj/

Proper noun

Roy m

1. (Canada) a male given name from English
2. (Canada) a surname from English
3. (Canada) a surname from French

Norwegian

Etymology

Borrowed from English Roy in the 19th century.

Proper noun

Roy

1. a male given name from English

Swedish

Etymology

Borrowed from English Roy in the 19th century.

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

Proper noun

Roy c (genitive Roys)

1. a male given name from English