# Fay (first name)

Source: https://namelineage.com/first-name/fay/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. US counts from the Social Security Administration; England and Wales counts from the Office for National Statistics; meaning and etymology from Wiktionary. Data updated 2026-11-11.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Usually given to | boys and girls |
| Origin | not recorded |
| Meaning | not recorded |
| Pronunciation | /feɪ/, 1 syllable |
| Nicknames | none recorded |
| Variant spellings | Faye |
| US babies named this | 36,177 since 1880 |
| Boys / girls in the US | 4,118 / 32,059 (89% girls) |
| Babies in England and Wales | 1,087, 1996 to 2025 |

## Popularity

The last 15 years of each series. A year is missing when too few babies were given the name for the agency to publish it: five in the US, three in England and Wales.

### United States, girls

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 26 | 5,264 |
| 2012 | 30 | 4,757 |
| 2013 | 26 | 5,192 |
| 2014 | 34 | 4,302 |
| 2015 | 25 | 5,348 |
| 2016 | 45 | 3,486 |
| 2017 | 26 | 5,096 |
| 2018 | 39 | 3,806 |
| 2019 | 38 | 3,870 |
| 2020 | 33 | 4,201 |
| 2021 | 43 | 3,569 |
| 2022 | 38 | 3,909 |
| 2023 | 34 | 4,222 |
| 2024 | 46 | 3,421 |
| 2025 | 39 | 3,795 |

### United States, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 1958 | 13 | 2,298 |
| 1959 | 12 | 2,459 |
| 1960 | 12 | 2,464 |
| 1961 | 16 | 2,091 |
| 1962 | 11 | 2,563 |
| 1963 | 9 | 2,919 |
| 1964 | 9 | 2,924 |
| 1965 | 5 | 4,087 |
| 1967 | 9 | 2,841 |
| 1968 | 6 | 3,847 |
| 1969 | 10 | 2,931 |
| 1970 | 5 | 4,948 |
| 1971 | 6 | 4,582 |
| 1972 | 5 | 5,219 |
| 1976 | 8 | 4,134 |

### England and Wales, girls

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 29 | 1,149 |
| 2012 | 25 | 1,297 |
| 2013 | 16 | 1,774 |
| 2014 | 8 | 2,862 |
| 2015 | 20 | 1,549 |
| 2016 | 16 | 1,834 |
| 2017 | 13 | 2,090 |
| 2018 | 5 | 3,985 |
| 2019 | 9 | 2,643 |
| 2020 | 8 | 2,843 |
| 2021 | 11 | 2,341 |
| 2022 | 11 | 2,325 |
| 2023 | 5 | 4,056 |
| 2024 | 6 | 3,695 |
| 2025 | 8 | 3,035 |

## People named Fay

- Fay Bainter, American actress (1893–1968)
- Fay Wray, actress (1907-2004)
- Fay Weldon, British writer (1931–2023)
- Fay McKenzie, American actress (1918-2019)
- Fay Ajzenberg-Selove, American nuclear physicist (1926–2012)
- Fay Compton, English actress (1894–1978)
- Fay Holden, American actress (1893-1973)
- Fay Kanin, American screenwriter, playwright and producer (1917–2013)
- Fay Moulton, Athletics and American football competitor (1876–1945)
- Fay Masterson, British actress
- Fay Baker, American actress, novelist (1917-1987)
- Fay Helm, actress (1909-2003)

## How to read these numbers

A count is babies registered with that name in that year, not people alive now, so a name common a century ago can have a large total and few recent births.