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Hoyle
How to Pronounce Hoyle
Pronounced HOYL /ΛhΙΙͺl/High
Meaning: Hoyle is an English surname, from a northern dialect word for a hollow or pit, marking someone who lived by such a spot. Used occasionally as a given name, it also carries the ring of the idiom 'according to Hoyle'.Low
Popularity in the U.S. Β· SSA data
U.S. births per year (Social Security Administration, 1880βpresent). Pink marker = peak year.
SSA data updated May 2026. How we source & verify this data.
History & Origin
Hoyle comes from an English surname rooted in a dialect word for a hollow or pit β a name for someone who lived beside one. It saw light use as a first name, helped along by the fame of the idiom 'according to Hoyle', which turned the plain surname into a byword for doing things properly.
As a given name it was a genuine rarity, scattered thinly through the record and cresting faintly in the mid-nineteen-twenties before fading. Short, brisk and surname-flavored, it has not joined the modern surname-name wave in any real numbers.
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Frequently Asked
What does the name Hoyle mean?
Hoyle is an English surname meaning someone who lived by a hollow or pit, now sometimes used as a first name.
How do you pronounce Hoyle?
It's said HOYL /ΛhΙΙͺl/ β one syllable, rhyming with 'oil'.
Is Hoyle a boy or girl name?
Hoyle is used as a boy's name.
How popular is Hoyle?
Hoyle has always been very rare in the U.S., a surname name most seen in the early twentieth century.