Foy
An English surname derived from a Norman French place name referring to beech trees.
Name Census estimates that about 659 living Americans carry the first name Foy. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 83.4% of registrations being male. The average person named Foy today is around 73 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Foy births was 1921 (81 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Foy. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
Key insights
- • The typical person named Foy is about 73 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Foys were born before 1963.
People living today
659
~ 1 in 520,113 Americans
Peak year
1921
81 babies that year
Average age
73
years old
2005 SSA rank
#5,565
Tracked since 1889
Gender
Gender distribution for Foy
Foy leans heavily male at 83.4% of total registrations, but 421 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Foy as a male name
- Ranked #10,528 in 2005
- 6 male births in 2005
- Peak: 1921 (68 births)
Foy as a female name
- Ranked #5,565 in 1950
- 5 female births in 1950
- Peak: 1912 (18 births)
Popularity
Foy: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Foy from the 1880s through to the 2000s, spanning 13 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 649 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Foy by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Foy during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Foys live
The SSA's state-level files cover 8 states and territories. Texas, Alabama, North Carolina recorded the most babies named Foy, while Virginia, Florida, Arkansas recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 133 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Foy
The name Foy originates from the Old French word "fei", meaning faith or belief. It has its roots in the Latin word "fides", which also means faith or trust. The name Foy was commonly used in medieval France and England during the 12th and 13th centuries.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Foy can be found in the Domesday Book, a great survey of land ownership in England commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086. The name appears as "Foy de Montfort", referring to a Norman nobleman who held lands in Warwickshire.
In the 12th century, Foy de Lusignan was a French nobleman and crusader who participated in the Third Crusade. He was captured by Saladin's forces during the Battle of Hattin in 1187 and later ransomed.
Saint Foy (also known as St. Faith or St. Fides) was a young Christian girl who was martyred in the 3rd or 4th century during the Diocletianic Persecution. She was widely venerated in medieval Europe, and several churches and monasteries were dedicated to her.
In the 15th century, Foy de la Neuville was a French military commander who fought for the Burgundian faction during the latter stages of the Hundred Years' War. He was present at the Battle of Agincourt in 1415.
Another notable figure with the name Foy was Foy Vaillant, a French goldsmith and sculptor who lived in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. He is best known for his intricate gold and silver vessels, which are now housed in various museums around the world.
The name Foy was not as widely used after the 17th century, but it continued to appear occasionally throughout history. For example, Foy Codrington was a British naval officer who served during the American Revolutionary War and the Napoleonic Wars in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.
People
Foy + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Foy as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with F
Other first names starting with F with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Foy: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Foy?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 659 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Foy going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 520,113 US residents.
Is Foy a common name?
We classify Foy as "Very Rare". It ranks above 87.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,533 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Foy most popular?
The single biggest year for Foy was 1921, when 81 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Foy is about 73 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Foy a male name?
Yes, 83.4% of people registered as Foy in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.