Hoy
A unisex Scandinavian name meaning "meadow" or "hayfield".
Name Census estimates that about 228 living Americans carry the first name Hoy. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Hoy today is around 73 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Hoy births was 1923 (36 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Hoy. 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 Hoy is about 73 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Hoys were born before 1963.
People living today
228
~ 1 in 1,503,309 Americans
Peak year
1923
36 babies that year
Average age
73
years old
2022 SSA rank
#13,052
Tracked since 1880
Census
Hoy in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 406 people with the first name Hoy, which placed it at #23,937 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#23,937
National first-name rank
People counted
406
406 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
61.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Hoy
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Hoy is White at 61.6%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (26.8%) and Black (6.7%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Hoy described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Hoy at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White61.6% · 250
- Asian and Pacific Islander26.8% · 109
- Black or African American6.7% · 27
- Two or more races2.5% · 10
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.5% · 6
- Hispanic or Latino1.0% · 4
Popularity
Hoy: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Hoy from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 11 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 215 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
Hoy 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 Hoy during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Hoys live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. West Virginia, Kentucky, Arkansas recorded the most babies named Hoy, while Arkansas, Kentucky, West Virginia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 29 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Hoy
The given name Hoy has its origins in the Old English language, dating back to the 5th century CE. It is believed to be derived from the Old English word "hog," which referred to a young sheep or lamb. This connection suggests that the name may have been initially used to describe someone who worked with or tended to these animals.
During the Anglo-Saxon period in Britain, the name Hoy was not uncommon, particularly in rural areas where agriculture and animal husbandry were prevalent. While no specific references to the name have been found in ancient texts or religious scriptures, it is likely that it was used among the common folk of the time.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Hoy can be found in the Domesday Book, a comprehensive survey of land ownership and taxation commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086. In this historical record, a man named Hoy is listed as a tenant farmer in the county of Norfolk.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Hoy. One such person was Hoy de Beverley, a 12th-century English prelate who served as the Bishop of Coventry from 1183 to 1195. Another was Hoy de Longchamp, a 13th-century Norman knight who participated in the Seventh Crusade under the leadership of King Louis IX of France.
In the 16th century, Hoy Morgans was a Welsh merchant and ship owner who played a significant role in the growth of the English maritime trade. His fleet of ships sailed to various ports across Europe and the Mediterranean, contributing to the economic prosperity of his time.
Moving forward to the 19th century, Hoy Wilkins was a renowned American explorer and naturalist. Born in 1786, he led several expeditions to the Rocky Mountains and the Pacific Northwest, documenting the flora and fauna of the region. His contributions to the field of natural history were widely recognized during his lifetime.
Finally, in the 20th century, Hoy Tannehill was an American baseball player who played for the Boston Red Sox and the St. Louis Browns between 1923 and 1935. He was a skilled outfielder and is remembered for his impressive batting averages and defensive prowess on the field.
People
Hoy + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Hoy as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with H
Other first names starting with H with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Hoy: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Hoy?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 228 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Hoy 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 1,503,309 US residents.
Is Hoy a common name?
We classify Hoy as "Very Rare". It ranks above 75.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 825 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Hoy most popular?
The single biggest year for Hoy was 1923, when 36 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Hoy is about 73 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Hoy in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 406 people with the name Hoy, or 0.13 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #23,937 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Hoy in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Hoy?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Hoy leans strongly male. 355 people counted with this name were male (86.4%), compared with 56 female bearers (13.6%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Hoy?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Hoy is White at 61.6%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (26.8%) and Black (6.7%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Hoy most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Hoy in the 2020 Census, accounting for 61.6% (250 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Hoy in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Hoy a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Hoy 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.
Is Hoy still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Hoy in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Hoy can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
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.
How many people share the name Hoy?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.