Guy
Masculine · “wood”
Guy is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 90,632 boys against 470 girls since 1880.
Guy gave English a common noun. A man was caught under Parliament with barrels of gunpowder in 1605, his effigy was burned every November afterwards, and within three centuries 'guy' meant any man at all.
How old is the name Guy?
Guy was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Guy alive today was born around 1954, making them about 71 years old. About 47,500 people named Guy are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Guy most popular?
Guy peaked in 1892, reaching #65 nationally. Today it ranks #1634, 1,569 places below that high. See the whole 1892 chart.
Where it comes from
From wido to Guy
The story of Guy
Guy was a Norman name and common in medieval England, carried by the legendary Guy of Warwick among others. Then Guy Fawkes was arrested in the cellars of the House of Lords, and the effigies burned on his anniversary came to be called guys — from which the word spread to mean a grotesquely dressed person, then any man, then anybody at all. The name itself continued quietly, peaking in America around 1917.
Meaningscholars disagree
wood; wide
From the Germanic wido, which has been read as 'wood' or as 'wide'. French turned the Germanic w into a g — the same shift that gives William and Guillaume, Warren and Garenne — producing Guy. Neither reading of wido is decisively established.
How the name formed
- wido
- Wido
- Guy
Related forms: Guy · Guido · Wido · Guido
Pronouncing Guy
GY
One syllable, rhyming with 'buy'. French says it GEE, with a hard g and a long e, which is a different sound entirely.
Nicknames for Guy
Moderate
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 boys named
- 19572,302 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #65reached in 1892
- Change vs 2022
- −18.9%103 in 2025, from 127
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.
Guy in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Guy in French — same name
- Guido in Italian — related form
- Wido in German — related form
- Guido in Spanish — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, New York.
Guys among us
people named Guy are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 16,583 born in 2025 was named Guy
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
Fashion outlook
Guy sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Guy is headed
Guy should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
Medium 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.
Guy beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Guy in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- One of the very few names to have become an ordinary English word, with a documented route.
- It is standard in French and, as Guido, in Italian and Spanish.
- One syllable, distinctive, and never mispronounced by English speakers.
- It is an ordinary English noun, which is impossible to avoid.
- The French pronunciation is quite different from the English one.
- It is period-coded to the early twentieth century in American records.
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What they receive
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Guy
Masculine · #1634 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Guys are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 47,500 people named Guy are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Guy in 2025?
- Guy ranks #1634 among US boy names in 2025, with 103 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Guy?
- About 1 in every 16,583 US boys born in 2025 was named Guy — 103 in all.
- Will my child share the name Guy with classmates?
- Guy will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Guy
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Granger#1634 · Jyaire#1634 · Yoel#1634 · Armaan#1634 · Hansel#1634 · Lester#1634 · Hiram#1634 · Linkin#1634
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Guy? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Guy and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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