Find out how popular the last name Fey is in the United States and learn more about the meaning, history, and race and ethnic origin of people in America who are named Fey.

Fey, like all of the last names we have data for, is identified by the U.S. Census Bureau as a surname which has more than 100 occurrences in the United States in the Decennial Census survey. The most recent statistics we have for the Fey surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Fey in America

Fey is the 9108th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Fey surname appeared 3,588 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 1 people would have the surname Fey.

We can also compare 2010 data for Fey to data from the previous census in 2000. The table below contains all of the statistics for both years in a side-by-side comparison.

The history of the last name Fey

The surname Fey has its origins in Germany and can be traced back to the 12th century. It is derived from the Old High German word "fehi," meaning cattle or livestock. The name may have initially been given as a descriptive surname to someone who worked as a cowherd or cattle farmer.

In medieval Germany, the name was often spelled as "Feye" or "Feiger." One of the earliest recorded instances of the name appears in the "Codex Traditionum Monasterii Superioris Rathensis," a 12th-century manuscript from the monastery of Obermünster in Regensburg, Bavaria. The document mentions a certain "Heinricus Feiger" among its list of landowners and tenants.

By the 13th century, the name had spread to other regions of Germany, and variations such as "Feie," "Feye," and "Fey" can be found in historical records from towns and villages across the country. For example, a "Johannes Fey" is mentioned in a 1287 document from the city of Lübeck in northern Germany.

One of the earliest known bearers of the name was Konrad Fey, a 14th-century farmer and landowner from the village of Hohenroda in Hesse, central Germany. His descendants continued to use the surname for generations, with members of the Fey family appearing in various records and chronicles throughout the following centuries.

In the 16th century, the name Fey was also found in parts of Switzerland, likely carried there by German immigrants or traders. One notable Swiss bearer of the name was Hans Fey, a farmer and vintner from the village of Twann, near Biel, who was born in 1532 and died in 1601.

Another historical figure with the surname Fey was Johann Fey, a German theologian and philosopher who lived from 1636 to 1701. He was born in Herborn, Hesse, and served as a professor of philosophy at the University of Giessen.

As the centuries passed, the Fey surname continued to be found across Germany and in German-speaking regions of Europe. Other notable individuals with this last name include the 19th-century German painter and lithographer Eduard Fey (1808-1877), and the early 20th-century German writer and dramatist Emil Fey (1878-1950).

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Fey

We also have some data on the ancestry of people with the surname Fey.

The below race categories are the modified race categories used in the Census Bureau's population estimates program. All people were categorized into six mutually exclusive racial and Hispanic origin groups:

1. White only
2. Black only
3. American Indian and Alaskan Native only
4. Asian and Pacific Islander only
5. Hispanic
6. Two or More Races

For the most recent 2010 census data, the race/ethnic origin breakdown for Fey was:

Note: Any fields showing (S) means the data was suppressed for privacy so that the data does not in any way identify any specific individuals.

Since we have data from the previous census in 2000, we can also compare the values to see how the popularity of Fey has changed in the 10 years between the two census surveys.

Data source

The last name data and ethnic breakdown of last names is sourced directly from the Decennial Census survey, conducted every 10 years by the United States Census Bureau.

The history and meaning of the name Fey was researched and written by our team of onomatology and genealogy experts.

If you have a correction or suggestion to improve the history of Fey, please contact us.

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