Roy
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Origin of the name Roy:
use of the surname which originated as a descriptive nickname for a person with red hair or a ruddy complexion. It is derived from the Gaelic ruadh (red).
From A World of Baby Names by Teresa Norman. Buy the bookDoes Roy sound...
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Reader Contributions
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- Personal experiences with the name Roy: | Edit
It was my Dad's name, he died when I was 11 and we had a wonderful father-daughter relationship. So, even though I don't care to use his name as a first name, if I ever have a son, it will be his middle name. He was named after his father's best friend who was a black man and at the time, it still was frowned upon (putting it very nicely to say the least) for whites and blacks to be friends. I have always admired my grandfather for how he chose to name my Dad. It makes the name even more special to me.
- Nicknames for Roy: | Edit
BoBo
- Meanings and history of the name Roy: | Edit
May come from "ruadh", the Gaelic word for red, or from "roi", French for king. Can be used as an independent name or as a short form of names like Leroy and Elroy.
- Famous real-life people named Roy: | Edit
Roy Rogers (born Leonard Schley), American actor and singing cowboy
Roy Harold Scherer, Jr. was the real name of Rock Hudson, American actor
Roy Lichtenstein, American artist
Roy Lee "Rocky" Dennis, craniodiaphyseal dysplasia sufferer who inspired the movie "Mask"
Roy Orbison, American singer and rock and roll pioneer
Roy Bean (born Phantly Roy Bean, Jr.), eccentric judge and saloon-keeper of the Old West
Roy Campanella, American baseball player
Roy Halladay (born Harry Leroy Halladay III), American baseball player
Roy Scheider, American actor
Roy Horn, German-American musician, who with his partner Siegfried Fischbacher was famous for performing with exotic animals
Roy Acuff, the "King of Country Music"
Roy Cohn, American lawyer and counsel to Sen. Joseph McCarthy
Roy Blount, Jr., American writer and humorist
Roy Andrews, American naturalist
Roy Hargrove, American jazz musician
Rob Roy, Scottish folk hero of early 18th century- Roy in song, story & screen: | Edit
The main character in the movie "The Fall" was named Roy.
Roy Hobbs, main character in the Bernard Malamud novel "The Natural"; played by Robert Redford in movie version.
Roy Mustang (a.k.a. "The Flame Alchemist") is a main character in the anime and manga series "Fullmetal Alchemist."
"Rob Roy," 1995 film starring Liam Neeson
NameVoyager US Popularity of Roy Over Time
NameMapper Current Popularity of Roy by State
Global Popularity of the Name Roy
- #389 in Canada (Alberta)
- #497 in United States
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