# Guy (first name)

Source: https://namelineage.com/first-name/guy/  
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 |
| Origin | not recorded |
| Meaning | “wood” |
| Pronunciation | /ɡaɪ/, 1 syllable |
| Nicknames | none recorded |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |
| US babies named this | 91,102 since 1880 |
| Boys / girls in the US | 90,632 / 470 (1% girls) |
| Babies in England and Wales | 2,669, 1996 to 2025 |

## Etymology

From Old French Gui, from a Frankish form of Proto-West Germanic *Widō (compare Old Dutch Wido), a short form of names beginning with the element *widu (“wood”), from Proto-Germanic *widuz; see for example modern German Witold and Old Saxon Widukind. Cognate with Italian Guido and thus a doublet of Guido. More at wood.

## What it means

Guy is grouped under forest.

## 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 |
|---|---|---|
| 1956 | 8 | 4,595 |
| 1957 | 9 | 4,341 |
| 1958 | 6 | 5,660 |
| 1959 | 5 | 6,600 |
| 1960 | 7 | 5,358 |
| 1961 | 10 | 4,358 |
| 1962 | 7 | 5,489 |
| 1963 | 9 | 4,663 |
| 1965 | 7 | 5,475 |
| 1967 | 9 | 4,740 |
| 1968 | 5 | 7,396 |
| 1970 | 6 | 7,375 |
| 1974 | 5 | 9,227 |
| 1976 | 5 | 9,795 |
| 1982 | 5 | 11,066 |

### United States, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 141 | 1,237 |
| 2012 | 142 | 1,245 |
| 2013 | 149 | 1,207 |
| 2014 | 156 | 1,187 |
| 2015 | 155 | 1,194 |
| 2016 | 140 | 1,299 |
| 2017 | 157 | 1,188 |
| 2018 | 139 | 1,309 |
| 2019 | 172 | 1,134 |
| 2020 | 130 | 1,362 |
| 2021 | 118 | 1,504 |
| 2022 | 127 | 1,435 |
| 2023 | 111 | 1,569 |
| 2024 | 112 | 1,557 |
| 2025 | 103 | 1,637 |

### England and Wales, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 60 | 580 |
| 2012 | 70 | 526 |
| 2013 | 64 | 560 |
| 2014 | 67 | 544 |
| 2015 | 76 | 506 |
| 2016 | 53 | 659 |
| 2017 | 58 | 621 |
| 2018 | 56 | 636 |
| 2019 | 38 | 813 |
| 2020 | 35 | 845 |
| 2021 | 38 | 825 |
| 2022 | 22 | 1,224 |
| 2023 | 16 | 1,533 |
| 2024 | 27 | 1,076 |
| 2025 | 23 | 1,226 |

## In other languages

- Armenian: Գվիդոն, Գի
- Catalan: Guiu
- Chinese: 蓋伊 /盖伊
- Czech: Kvido
- Esperanto: Vito
- French: Guy
- German: Veit
- Hebrew: גאי, גַּיְא
- Hungarian: Gujdó, Vitold
- Italian: Guido
- Latin: Guidus
- Latvian: Gvido
- Lithuanian: Gvidas
- Polish: Gwido
- Portuguese: Guido
- Russian: Гай
- Slovene: Gvido
- Spanish: Guido
- Welsh: Guto

## People named Guy

- Guy de Maupassant, French writer (1850-1893)
- Guy Fawkes, English member of the Gunpowder Plot of 1605
- Guy Ritchie, English filmmaker (born 1968)
- Guy Pearce, Australian actor (born 1967)
- Guy Debord, French Marxist theorist, writer, filmmaker (1931–1994)
- Guy of Lusignan, French Poitevin knight and King of Jerusalem by right of marriage (c.1150–1194) (r. 1186–1
- Guy Hamilton, English film director (1922-2016)
- Guy Sebastian, Australian singer-songwriter
- Guy Mollet, French politician (1905-1975)
- Guy Gavriel Kay, Canadian author of fantasy fiction (born 1954)
- Guy Burgess, British-born radio producer, intelligence and Foreign Office officer and double agent
- Guy Laliberté, Canadian businessman, investor, poker player, space tourist, and musician

## 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.