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Hoy
How to Pronounce Hoy
Pronounced HOY /ˈhɔɪ/High
Meaning: Hoy is chiefly a surname pressed into first-name use. It has more than one source: a Scottish place name (the island of Hoy in Orkney, from Old Norse 'há-øy', 'high island') and an English/Irish family name. Given as a first name it carries the family-name association rather than a single word meaning.Low
Popularity in the U.S. · SSA data
U.S. births per year (Social Security Administration, 1880–present). Pink marker = peak year.
SSA data updated May 2026. How we source & verify this data.
History & Origin
Hoy is one of those one-syllable surname names families occasionally used as a first name. Its roots are mixed: the Scottish island of Hoy takes its name from Old Norse há-øy, 'high island', while as an English and Irish family name it arose independently. Used as a given name it points back to a family surname more than to any everyday word.
In the U.S. record Hoy turns up as a genuine rarity from the eighteen-eighties, faintly most common around the nineteen-twenties, never more than a few dozen boys a year. It reads today as an antique family-honoring pick; it has not joined the modern surname-name revival, and its clipped sound keeps it firmly in the old-record category.
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Frequently Asked
What does the name Hoy mean?
Hoy is mainly a surname used as a first name; one source is the Orkney island of Hoy, 'high island' in Old Norse.
How do you pronounce Hoy?
It's said HOY /ˈhɔɪ/ — one syllable.
Is Hoy a boy or girl name?
Hoy is used as a boy's name.
How popular is Hoy?
Hoy has always been very rare in the U.S., a scattered surname name most seen in the early twentieth century.