Faye
Feminine · Latin roots · “fairy (from Middle English fay)”
Faye is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 72,142 girls against 518 boys since 1880. See Faye as a boy name
Faye is one syllable with an old word inside it: fay, the Middle English word for a fairy. It has a famous modern bearer in Faye Dunaway, who won the Academy Award for Best Actress for Network.
How old is the name Faye?
Faye was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Faye alive today was born around 1942, making them about 83 years old. About 35,000 people named Faye are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Faye most popular?
Faye peaked in 1934, reaching #146 nationally. Today it ranks #514, 368 places below that high. See the whole 1934 chart.
Where it comes from
From fata (Latin) to Faye
The story of Faye
Fay came into English from Old French in the Middle Ages, and the spelling Faye grew up beside it as a given name. It is easy to confuse with fey, but the two words are unrelated: fey comes from Old English fæge, 'doomed to die,' and drifted toward 'otherworldly' only much later, partly under the pull of fay. Faye Dunaway, the star of Bonnie and Clyde and Chinatown, won her Academy Award for the 1976 film Network, playing a television executive who will put anything on the air for ratings.
Meaningscholars disagree
fairy (from Middle English fay)
Faye is usually traced to fay, 'fairy,' which came into English from Old French fae. It has also been used as a short form of Faith, and the two roads arrive at the same spelling.
How the name formed
- fataLatin
- faeOld French
- fayMiddle English
- Faye
Related forms: Fay
Pronouncing Faye
FAY
One syllable, rhyming with day; the final e is silent.
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1880
- Most girls named
- 19451,376 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #146reached in 1934
- Change vs 2022
- +7.8%579 in 2025, from 537
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Faye in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Fay in English — spelling variant
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, New York.
Fayes among us
people named Faye are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 2,776 born in 2025 was named Faye
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Winifred test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Faye's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Winifred climbed just as high around 1917, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Winifred's path sketches the road Faye is walking now.
Faye is on its second act. Revived names age gently: the generation that wore them first is far enough away that the name feels classic rather than dated.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Faye is headed
Faye should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
High confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Faye beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Faye in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- One syllable, said the same way by every English speaker.
- Works as a first name or as a short middle name between longer ones.
- An old English word and a famous actress stand behind it.
- It will be spelled Fay or Fae as often as Faye, so expect to spell it out.
- It sounds exactly like fey, a word now meaning whimsical or otherworldly, and a few people will make the link.
- A very few boys are recorded with it; as a name long given to girls, it will read as feminine.
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Faye
Feminine · Latin roots · #514 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Fayes are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 35,000 people named Faye are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Faye in 2025?
- Faye ranks #514 among US girl names in 2025, with 579 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Faye?
- About 1 in every 2,776 US girls born in 2025 was named Faye — 579 in all.
- Will my child share the name Faye with classmates?
- Faye will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Faye
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Louise#514 · Analeia#514 · Remington#511 · Jream#517 · Alisson#511 · Hanna#511 · Clover#517 · Estella#509
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Faye? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Faye and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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