# Fahey (surname)

Source: https://namelineage.com/surname/fahey/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. Counts from the US Census Bureau; origin and etymology from Wiktionary; bearers from Wikidata. Data updated 2026-11-11.

A surname from Irish.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | Irish |
| Type | patronymic, formed from a father’s (or ancestor’s) given name |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 9,299 |
| US rank (2010) | 3,811 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 33,202 people |
| Change since 2000 | +2.0% (9,118 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | /ˈfæhi/, 2 syllables |
| Variant spellings | Fahie, Fahy, Fay, Fohey |

## Etymology

Reduced Anglicized form of Irish Ó Fathaidh (“descendant of Fathadh”), a byname from fothadh (“base, foundation, support”).

## Who carries it

Share of people named Fahey in the 2010 US Census by the Census's own race and ethnicity groups. The Census suppresses a share when the count behind it is small.

| Group | Share |
|---|---|
| White (not Hispanic) | 95% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 0.4% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 2.0% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 0.7% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 0.2% |
| Two or more races | 1.3% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named Fahey in the United States.

## People named Fahey

- Jeff Fahey, American actor
- John Fahey, American fingerstyle guitarist (1939–2001)

## Similar surnames

Fahy, Faye, Fay, Foy, Fu, Fee, Fey, Fye, Few, Foye, Foo, Faw.

## How to read these numbers

A Census count is people alive and counted in 2010, not births, and names occurring fewer than 100 times are not published at all. Ethnicity shares are the Census's own categories.