Roy is both a given name and a family surname with varied origins.
France and England
Origin Written interchangeably in records as: Roi, Le Roi, De Roy, and Le Roy, the surname Roy originated from the Normans, the descendants of Norse Vikings who settled in Amigny, a commune in Manche, Normandy in the 10th century.
Roy derived from the Old Northern French roy, roi (), meaning "king", or "the king" (royne for "queen"). It arose as a Norman byname before the Conquest and was passed on as a family name in the Middle Ages.
The Vikings, after having been given their new lands, adopted the Old French language of the northern regions of France and created the Duchy of Normandy. Their descendants, the Normans, took their language and naming practices with them to England, where a dialect of Old Norman called Anglo-Norman was formed.
Normandy
Originally, Roy or Roi was a Norman regal name.. A man may have had 'kingly' bearing, held a position of authority, was a tournament victor, or it was given as a byname in direct service to the king. This reflects Norman adaptation of social or martial identifiers – a cultural inheritance from their Viking ancestry, forming a family name that was passed down..
In Normandy, the Roy family originated from knighthood and several knights, abbots and feudal lords () of the family passed down the name throughout France and Switzerland. Early permanent names belonged to nobles as this was needed to secure: estate inheritance and land ownership, legal proof of hereditary titles and pedigrees documenting alliances, marriages and royal connections. Surnames were not common amongst the lower class in the early medieval populations. Commoners used nicknames or profession names, but they changed every generation as a son did not generally inherit his father's descriptive or trade name until they became fixed by the late 14th century.
In the 12th century, the Roy family was amongst the other family surnames identified in the city of Caen in Normandy. Official medieval records of the period show the name was recorded originating from the same lineage in its vernacular forms, or translated by scribes into the Latinised Rex, dictus Rex ("called king") or the genitive form, Regis.
One of the earliest references cite Guillaume de Roy (William of Roy), who was a knight of the Knights Templar. While born Guillaume Le Roy, the usage of de Roy ("of Roy"), a nobiliary particle, signified hereditary nobility. Specifically, it identified Guillaume as the lord of a fief and from the noble house of Roy, who originated from a paternal lineage of knights that was recognized by the monarch. This was an official legal requirement in the Latin Rule to be a knight of the Templars. Guillaume de Roy was recorded as Guillelmus de Roy, Templar of the Diocese of Soissons, by the court scribes during the Trials of the Knights Templar.
Anglo-Norman England
After the Norman Conquest, the victorious Normans and their allies settled England and eventually formed the ruling class of nobles called Anglo-Normans. Roy or Roi was a family name and also a title that was held by the kings of England. The royal administration integrated the legal term "roy" into the titles of official state offices: Norroy "North King" and Viceroy "in place of King". Anglo-Norman kings would also pass on hereditary patronymic surnames like Fitzroy, from Fi(t)z meaning "son of" and Roy "king", denoting the name bearer as a "son of the king".
("The King wills it"), written and spoken in the original form of "Roy", is a Norman phrase still used in the Parliament of the United Kingdom to this day as royal assent. A legacy of a time prior to 1488 when parliamentary and judicial proceedings were conducted in Norman French, the language of the conquerors after 1066.
North America
In Canada and in the United States, the descendants of the families of Roy, Le Roy that immigrated to North America have been granted a coat of arms by the Governor General of Canada.
South Asia
In India and Bangladesh, Roy is an anglicized Bengali variant of the surname Rai, meaning "king". Rai (title) is the historical title of royalty and nobility in the Indian subcontinent, used by rulers and chieftains of many Mahishya and other princely states and as a family name.
Before the British Raj, the English spelling of "Roy" did not exist in Bengali records because those records were primarily kept in Bengali, Persian script or Sanskrit-derived scripts. The transition occurred as the British transliterated local titles into English based on how they heard them pronounced. In the Bengali language, the Sanskrit root Raja or Rai is typically pronounced as the English "Roy".
The name is diverse and can be found among upper castes as well as among the scheduled castes.
Scotland
The name Roy is also found in Scotland, an anglicisation from the Scottish Gaelic nickname ruadh, meaning "red". The name predominantly comes second as a middle name. A famous example of the name usage is that of Rob Roy MacGregor, who was a Scottish outlaw and folk hero.
Given name Roy van Aalst (born 1983), Dutch politician Roy Abbott (1927–2004), Australian politician
Roy Abergil (born 1990), Israeli footballer
Roy Adam (1883–1958), Australian rules footballer Roy Adams (writer) (born 1940), American academic Roy Adams (cricketer) (born 1989), South African cricketer Roy Daryl Adams, American politician
Roy Adler (1931–2016), American mathematician
Roy Agnew (1891–1944), Australian composer
Roy Akagi (1892–1943), Japanese-American scholar and historian Roy Alden (1863–1937), American politician and newspaper editor Roy Alfred (1916–2008), American lyricist Roy Algie (1889–1946), Australian rugby league footballer Roy Allen (tennis) (1868–1931), British tennis player Roy Allen (pilot) (1918–1991), American WWII pilot Roy Allen (footballer) (1901–2001), Australian rules footballer and umpire Roy W. Allen (1882–1968), American entrepreneur Roy Almond (1891–1960), Australian rugby league footballer Roy Alon (1942–2006), British stuntman
Roy Alvarez (1950–2014), Filipino actor and director
Roy Ambler (1937–2007), English footballer
Roy Ananda (born 1980), Australian artist and arts educator
Roy Andersen (general) (born 1948), South African businessman and military general officer Roy Andersen (born 1955), Norwegian long-distance runner Roy Anderson (American football) (born 1980), American football coach Roy M. Anderson (born 1947), British expert on epidemiology Roy Andersson (born 1943), Swedish film director Roy Andersson (footballer) (born 1949), Swedish footballer
Roy Ankrah (1925–1995), Ghanaian boxer Roy Apancho, Indonesian professional pool player Roy Applegate (1878–1950), American actor
Roy Appleyard (born 1950), English rugby league footballer Roy Apps (born 1951), British screenwriter and children's author Roy Apted (born 1937), Australian rules footballer
Roy V. Aragon (born 1968), Filipino writer writing
Roy Armes (born 1937), British film scholar Roy Armstrong (1914–1991), Australian politician Roy S. Armstrong (1900–1987), American politician Roy Ascott (born 1934), English cybernetic artist Roy Ash (1918–2011), American politician
Roy Askevold (1935–2005), Norwegian boxer Roy Asotasi (born 1982), New Zealand and Samoa rugby league footballer Roy Assaf (actor) (born 1979), Israeli actor Roy Assaf (choreographer) (born 1982), Israeli dancer and choreographer Roy Assaf (musician) (born 1982), Israeli jazz pianist and composer
Roy Axe (1937–2010), British car designer
Roy E. Ayers (1882–1955), American judge
Roy George Benn (1908–1967), American formerly missing person Roy Black (singer) (1943–1991), German singer and actor Roy Blount Jr. (born 1941), American writer
Roy Bucher (1895–1980), British-Indian soldier Roy C (1939–2020), American singer and songwriter Roy Campanella (1921–1993), American baseball catcher Roy Campanella II (born 1948), TV director and producer Roy Castle (1932–1994), English entertainer Roy Cimatu (born 1946), Filipino government administrator and army general Roy Clark (1933–2018), American country music singer and musician Roy Clarke (born 1930), English comedy writer Roy Choi (born 1970), Korean-American chef Roy Christian (1943–2024), New Zealand rugby league footballer Roy Cohn (1927–1986), American lawyer Roy Asberry Cooper Jr. (1927–2014), American lawyer Roy Cooper (born 1957), American politician Roy Cooper (rodeo cowboy) (1955–2025), American rodeo cowboy Roy Crossley (1923–2003), English footballer Roy Degoregore (1922–1996), Nauruan politician Roy DeMeo (1940–1983), Italian-American mobster Roy de Silva (1937–2018), Sri Lankan Sinhala actor and director Roy E. Disney (1930–2009), American businessman Roy O. Disney (1893–1971), American businessman
Roy Doron (born 1990), Israeli musician Roy Drusky (1930–2004), American singer and songwriter Roy Face (born 1928), American baseball relief pitcher Roy Firestone (born 1953), American sports talk show host Roy Foster (baseball) (1945–2008), American baseball player Roy Gagnon (1913–2000), American football player Roy Givens (1929–2019), American politician Roy J. Glauber (1925–2018), American physicist and 2005 Nobel Prize winner Roy M. Goodman (1930–2014), New York State senator
Roy Haggerty (1960–2018), GB rugby league footballer Roy Martin Haines (1924–2017), British historian
Roy Hall (racing driver) (1920–1991), American moonshiner and stock car racing driver
Roy Halstead (1931–1997), English footballer Roy Hamey (1902–1983), American Sporting Executive
Roy Hamilton (physician) (born 1973), American neurologist and academic
Roy Hansen (1898–1977), American baseball player
Roy Hardgrave (1906–1982), NZ rugby league player Roy Harford (born 1936), New Zealand cricketer
Roy W. Harmon (1915–1944), United States Army soldier Roy Harper (singer) (born 1941), British singer-songwriter
Roy Winfield Harper (1905–1994), American judge
Roy Harris (linguist) (1931–2015), British linguist
Roy Harris (British Army soldier) (1902–1973), George Cross recipient in World War II
Roy J. Harris Jr. (born 1946), Reporter and editor Roy J. Harris (1902–1980), American journalist
Roy Harrison (cricketer) (born 1939), Irish cricketer
Roy Harrover (1928–2016), American architect Roy Hart (performer) (1926–1975), South African actor and vocalist
Roy Hart (English footballer) (1933–2014), English footballer Roy Hart (race walker) (born 1936), Welsh athlete Roy Harte (1924–2003), American drummer
Roy Hartle (1931–2014), English footballer
Roy Hartzell (1881–1961), American baseball player
Roy Hasson (1921–1968), Australian rugby league footballer
Roy T. Haverkamp (1924–2018), American diplomat Roy Hawes (1926–2017), American baseball player Roy Hawkins (1903–1974), American singer-songwriter
Roy Hawksley (born 1942), English rugby league footballer Roy Hawley (1901–1954), American athletic director Roy Hay (musician) (born 1961), English musician Roy Hay (horticulturist) (1910–1989), British horticultural journalist
Roy Haynes (designer) (1924–2020), British automobile designer Roy Asa Haynes (1881–1940), American government official Roy Hazelwood (1938–2016), FBI agent and pioneer of criminal profiling
Roy Healy (1915–1968), American rocket scientist Roy Hearn (1908–1978), Australian rules footballer
Roy Heinrich (born 1953), American singer-songwriter Roy Heiser (born 1942), American baseball player Roy Hellvin (born 1944), Norwegian pianist, composer, and arranger
Roy Helu Sr. (born 1953), US rugby union player
Roy Henderson (footballer) (1923–1997), Scottish footballer Roy Hendriksen (born 1969), Dutch footballer, coach, and manager Roy Henkel (1905–1981), Canadian ice hockey player
Roy Henry ((fl. c. 1410)), British composer