Roy
A masculine name derived from French words meaning "regal" or "kingly".
Name Census estimates that about 185,404 living Americans carry the first name Roy. It is a predominantly male name (99.3% of registrations). The average person named Roy today is around 63 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Roy births was 1947 (7,592 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Roy. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Roy with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Roy is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 2,693 girls registered with the name since 1880.
- • Compared to the 1940s, recent registration numbers for Roy have dropped to less than 5% of what they once were.
People living today
185K
~ 1 in 1,849 Americans
Peak year
1947
7,592 babies that year
Average age
63
years old
2024 SSA rank
#541
Tracked since 1880
Census
Roy in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 176,161 people with the first name Roy, which placed it at #314 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
#314
National first-name rank
People counted
176K
176,161 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
58.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
71.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Roy
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Roy is White at 71.2%. The next largest groups are Black (12.7%) and Hispanic (8.5%). 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 Roy 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 Roy at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White71.2% · 125,463
- Black or African American12.7% · 22,334
- Hispanic or Latino8.5% · 14,901
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.8% · 6,755
- Two or more races2.8% · 4,902
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.0% · 1,806
Gender
Gender distribution for Roy
Out of the 410,743 babies given the name Roy since 1880, 99.3% were registered as male. The name sits firmly on the male side of the spectrum, with only a handful of female registrations across the entire dataset.
Roy as a male name
- Ranked #541 in 2024
- 552 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1947 (7,560 births)
Roy as a female name
- Ranked #17,287 in 2022
- 5 female births in 2022
- Peak: 1927 (69 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Roy appears almost entirely male. Of the 176,166 people counted with this name, 99.8% were male and only a very small share were female.
Popularity
Roy: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Roy from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1940s, with 66,004 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1940s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Roy 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 Roy during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Roys live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. Texas, California, New York recorded the most babies named Roy, while Delaware, Alaska, New Hampshire recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 7,442 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Roy
The name Roy has its origins in the Old French word "roi" meaning "king". It can be traced back to the 12th century in France, where it was used as a nickname or a shortened form of the French names derived from the word "roi", such as Leroy or Deroy.
The name gained popularity in England during the Norman Conquest in the 11th century, when many French names were introduced to the region. It was initially used as a surname, but over time, it transitioned into being used as a given name as well.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Roy being used as a given name dates back to the 13th century in England. In 1285, a document from the Pipe Rolls of Cumberland mentions a person named Roy de Crofton.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Roy. One of the earliest was Roy le Fitz Piers, a 13th-century English nobleman and soldier who fought in the Barons' War against King Henry III.
In the realm of literature, Roy Cambell is a significant figure. He was a 16th-century Scottish poet and courtier who served under King James VI of Scotland. His works, such as "The Metaphysical Sonnets," are considered important contributions to Scottish Renaissance literature.
The name also has a strong association with the arts. Roy Lichtenstein (1923-1997) was an influential American pop artist known for his iconic comic book-inspired paintings. His works, like "Whaam!" and "Drowning Girl," revolutionized the art world and made him a leading figure in the Pop Art movement.
In the field of science, Roy J. Glauber (1925-2018) was an American theoretical physicist who received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2005 for his contributions to the quantum theory of optical coherence.
The name Roy has also been associated with political figures. Roy Wilkins (1901-1981) was a prominent American civil rights leader and activist who served as the executive director of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) from 1955 to 1977. He played a crucial role in the American Civil Rights Movement and worked tirelessly to promote racial equality.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Roy
People
Roy + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Roy as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with R
Other first names starting with R with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Roy: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Roy?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 185,404 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Roy 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 1,849 US residents.
Is Roy a common name?
We classify Roy as "Common". It ranks above 99.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 410,743 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Roy most popular?
The single biggest year for Roy was 1947, when 7,592 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Roy is about 63 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Roy in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 176,161 people with the name Roy, or 58.33 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #314 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 Roy 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 Roy?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Roy appears almost entirely male. Of the 176,166 people counted with this name, 99.8% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Roy?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Roy is White at 71.2%. The next largest groups are Black (12.7%) and Hispanic (8.5%). 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 Roy most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Roy in the 2020 Census, accounting for 71.2% (125,463 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 Roy in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Roy a male name?
Yes, 99.3% of people registered as Roy 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 Roy still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Roy 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 Roy 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 Americans are named Roy?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.