Foy
Masculine · “faith”
Foy is given to both — 2,112 boys and 421 girls since 1880. See other names given to both
Foy is the old French word for faith, and it arrived in English attached to a family rather than to a virtue. The Puritans made virtue names directly out of English words; this one came the other way, as a surname carried by people whose ancestors had lived near a church dedicated to a particular saint.
How old is the name Foy?
Foy first appears in US birth records in 1889 — 136 years ago. The typical Foy alive today was born around 1931, making them about 94 years old. About 600 people named Foy are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Foy most popular?
Foy peaked in 1905, reaching #636 nationally. See the whole 1905 chart.
Where it comes from
From fides to Foy
The story of Foy
The saint it points at is a child. She was reportedly twelve when she was executed in Roman Gaul, and the abbey that later held her relics made her a statue: a small seated golden figure, built around a much older reused head, encrusted over centuries with jewels that pilgrims gave it. It sits in a church in a remote gorge in southern France and it is one of the very few reliquary statues of its kind to survive the Reformation and the Revolution, because the villagers hid it. Medieval writers were uneasy about it — it looked too much like an idol — and said so in writing, and then went on venerating it anyway.
Meaning
faith
Old French, from the Latin for trust or faith, and the same word that stands behind English fidelity. The modern French spelling has changed but the sense has not moved at all.
How the name formed
- fides
- foi
- Foy
Related forms: Foy · Fides
Pronouncing Foy
FOY
One syllable. The spelling is completely unambiguous and nobody meeting it hesitates over how to say it.
Nicknames for Foy
Limited
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
- 1889
- Most boys named
- 192168 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #636reached in 1905
- Change vs 1986
- +20.0%6 in 2005, from 5
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.
Foy in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Foy in French — same name
- Fides in Latin — related form
Foys among us
people named Foy are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Foy sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- One syllable, three letters, and never spelled out twice.
- The meaning is clear and dignified and easy to explain.
- It is genuinely rare with no competing modern associations.
- It is short enough to be mistaken for an initial or a nickname.
- Most children with this spelling are boys, but a real minority are girls; either may be taken for the other.
- The generation that used it is now very old.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Foy
Masculine
Frequently asked
- How many Foys are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 600 people named Foy are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Foy in 2025?
- Foy is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 boy names.
- Will my child share the name Foy with classmates?
- Foy will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More F names
The most-given names starting with F, all years combined.
Frank#513 · Fred#1932 · Francis#420 · Frederick#435 · Floyd#2230 · Francisco#322 · Franklin#359 · Fernando#387
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Foy? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Foy and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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