NameRealm
Fay

Fay: name meaning, origin & popularity

Meaning
“fairy”
Origin
English
Say it
FAY · 1 syllable
Used for
Girls (89% of all uses)

From Middle English fay, borrowed from Old French fae 'fairy'. It is also used as a spelling variant of Faye.

English namesFrench namesNames meaning beautyShort namesVintage names

How popular is Fay?

202413.8 per million US babies
1880192019602000
Drag the line or the slider to read any year. Values are per million US births recorded by Social Security. Records before about 1937 undercount births, so early peaks can look taller than they were.

Babies named Fay in 202446

2024 rank#3,380 girls

Peak year1903

Total US babies since 188036,137

Fay is rising: use over the last five years is 1.5× what it was a decade earlier.

Names like Fay

Variants, related forms and names with the same roots.

  • Fayefairy · English
  • Oliviaolive tree · English
  • Evelyndesired; little bird · English
  • Harperharp player · English
  • Violetviolet flower · English
  • Hazelhazel tree · English
  • Ellieshort form of names ending in -el or -ella · English
  • Lilylily flower · English

Fay questions

What does the name Fay mean?

Fay means "fairy". It comes from English. From Middle English fay, borrowed from Old French fae 'fairy'. It is also used as a spelling variant of Faye.

Is Fay a boy or girl name?

Fay is mainly a girl's name in US records (89% of uses since 1880).

How popular is Fay?

46 US babies were named Fay in 2024. Its peak year was 1903.

How do you pronounce Fay?

Fay is usually pronounced FAY.

Birth counts: US Social Security Administration national data, 1880–2024 (names given to 5+ babies of a sex in a year). How we write meanings.