Roy Explained

Roy
Gender:Male
Meaning:King or Red
Region:Western Europe
Origin:Old Norman, Old French, Bengali, Scottish Gaelic
Related Names:Fitzroy, Rex, Rey, Ray, Rai
Alternative Spelling:Roi
Variant Forms:Leroy, Leroi, Deroy

Roy is a masculine given name and a family surname with varied origins.

France

In France, the family name Roy originated from the Normans, the descendants of Norse Vikings who migrated to Amigny, a commune in Manche, Normandy.[1] [2] [3] The surname is from the Old French roy, roi (pronounced as /fr/), meaning "king", which was a byname used before the Norman Conquest and a personal name in the Middle Ages.[4]

Originally, Roy may have been a regal name, either from "kingly" bearing, a position of authority, a tournament winner, or one who was in the service of the king.[5] This reflects Norman adaptation of social or martial identifiers — a cultural inheritance from their Viking ancestry, eventually forming a family name that would be passed down.[6] [7]

Earliest references cite Guillaume de Roy (William of Roy), who was a knight of the Knights Templar[8] [9] [10] and one of several knights and feudal lords (seigneur) of the Roy family in France and Switzerland.[11] [12] [13] [14] While born Guillaume Le Roy, the usage of de Roy ("of Roy") signified hereditary nobility.[15] [16] [1] Specifically, this was a claimed connection to a lineage of knights and the lord of a fief recognized by the monarch, rather than a simple descriptive surname which was a legal requirement to be a knight of the Templars.[17] [18] [19] Medieval court scribes consistently translated vernacular names into Latin. Guillaume de Roy is recorded as Guillelmus de Roy, Templar of the Diocese of Soissons, by the scribes during the Trials of the Knights Templar.[20]

In Canada and in the United States, the descendants of the families of Roy, Le Roy that immigrated to North America have been granted a coat of arms by the Governor General of Canada.[21] [22] [23]

England

After the Norman Conquest, the victorious Normans and their allies settled England and eventually formed the ruling class of nobles called Anglo-Normans.[24] [2] Roy, or Roi was a family name[25] and also a title that was used by the kings of England & royal administration (such as Norroy and Viceroy).[26] [27] [28] This is seen with patronymic surnames like Fitzroy, from Fi(t)z, meaning "son of" and Roy, "king", denoting the name bearer as a "son of the king".[29] [30] [31]

Le Roy le veult ("The King wills it"), is a Norman French phrase still used in the Parliament of the United Kingdom to this day as royal assent. A legacy of a time prior to 1488 when parliamentary and judicial proceedings were conducted in Norman.[32] [33]

South Asia

In India and Bangladesh, Roy is a Bengali language variant of the surname Rai, meaning "king". Rai (title) is a historical title of royalty and nobility in the Indian subcontinent used by rulers and chieftains of many princely states.[2]

Scotland

The name Roy is also found in Scotland, an anglicisation from the Scottish Gaelic nickname ruadh, meaning "red".[2]

Given name

Surname

Fictional characters

See also

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Généalogie de la noble et ancienne maison des Le Roy . Du Cluzel de Remaurin, Chevalier. . Bibliothèque nationale de France, département Philosophie, histoire, sciences de l'homme . 30 May 2023 . "Ecrit indifféremment dans quelques actes: Roi, Le Roi, De Roy et Le Roy." "D'origine normande, la noble maison des LE ROY 1, divisée en quatre principales bran-ches, dont nous donnons ici la généalogie, remonte à la plus haute antiquité, c'est-à-dire à ces fiers enfants du Nord (Nort-mans) qui, du fond de la Norwège 2, sous la conduite des Hadding, des Gerlon, des Héric et autres chefs non moins inhumains et farouches, inon-dèrent la Gaule au septième siècle, et ne laissèrent rien d'entier sur leur passage que les traces sanglantes de leur barbarie, la désolation et des' ruines, assiégèrent trois fois Paris et en effrayèrent si fort les habitants..." "GUILLAUME LE ROY, — alias DE ROY, — écuyér, chevalier du Temple..." "D'origine chevaleresque, la maison des LE ROY a donné à l'armée une longue série d'officiers distingués de tous grades, soit dans l'infanterie, la cavalerie, la maison du roi et rartillerie ; elle a eu deux chevaliers de l'ordre du Roi et plusieurs chevaliers de l'ordre royal et militaire de Saint-Louis, des chambellans, des sénéchaux, des gouverneurs, des magistrats intègres dans les baillages et les cours souveraines, et enfin des conseillers du roi et des trésoriers de ses épargnes..." "les LE ROY ont été maintenus dans leur noblesse, en outre de l'arrêt de la Cour des aides de Normandie de 1494, cité plus haut, par des sen-tences, des années 1546, 1637 et 1671 ; et après avoir fourni par devant d'Hozier, juge d'armes de France, les preuves irréfragables de leur noblesse...". 1863 .
  2. Book: Patrick Hankes. Dictionary of American Family Names . . 2003. 1. xcvii. 0-19-508137-4 . Roy: English (of Norman origin): from Old French roi ‘king’ used as a nickname (see 3 below) and also as a personal name." "French: from Old French rey roy ‘king’. Compare Deroy and Leroy." "Indian (Bengal) and Bangladeshi: variant of Rai." "Scottish: nickname for a person with red hair or a ruddy complexion from Gaelic ruadh ‘red.’" . .
  3. Encyclopedia: Norman. Encyclopædia Britannica . 22 July 2020 . Norman, member of those Vikings, or Norsemen, who settled in northern France...The Normans (from Nortmanni: "Northmen") were originally pagan barbarian pirates from Denmark, Norway, and Iceland..
  4. Web site: Histoire généalogique et chronologique de la maison royale de France, des pairs, grands officiers de la couronne & de la maison du Roy, & des anciens barons du royaume. Anselme de Sainte-Marie . Compagnie des Libraires, Paris. . 15 July 2023 . Genealogie De La Maison De Le Roy...Guillaume le Roy III, du nom, seigneur de Chavigny, du Chillou...Femme, Françoise de Fontenays...1.René le Roi, seigneur de Chavigny, qui fuit...2.Guyon le Roy, seigneur du Chillou & de Mondon.... 1733 .
  5. Web site: Leroy. Dictionary of American family names . 22 May 2023 . French: from Old French rey, roy ‘king’ (from Latin rex, genitive regis) (see Roy.), with the definite article le. It may have been an occupational name for someone in the service of the king, or a nickname for someone who behaved in a regal fashion or who had earned the title in some contest of skill...King: The word was already used as a byname before the Norman Conquest, and the nickname was common in the Middle Ages...French LEROY..
  6. Book: Eva Brylla. The Oxford Handbook of Names and Naming . Oxford University Press . 2016. 1. 237–250. 9780199656431 . In medieval naming systems, bynames are secondary formations derived from existing words (nouns/adjectives) and serve to distinguish individuals by characteristics such as home district, birthplace, family function, physical traits, habits, or ways of expressing oneself. These formations are part of the anthroponomastic system and provide insight into social identification practices...Eva Brylla was Docent (Senior Lecturer) in Scandinavian Languages at Uppsala University, specializing in name research. Her doctoral thesis was on the inflection of place‑names in Old Swedish, and she published extensively on both place‑names and personal names. She was formerly the Head of the Department of Names at the Institute of Language and Folklore Research in Uppsala.. .
  7. Web site: Medieval English Nicknames and Surnames. Problems of Onomastics . 3 March 2026 . …such nicknames [i.e., bynames] could be occupational, relational, locative, descriptive, or metaphoric, and were reflective of social roles and individual behavior or characteristics — putting on display a wide range of medieval social roles and attitudes..
  8. Book: The Persecution of the Knights Templar: Scandal, Torture, Trial. Alain Demurger . 2019. Simon and Schuster . 978-1-64313-089-7 . 12 July 2023 . Seven of these nine Templars are also on the list of brothers who came from Gisors on 26 February 1310: Henri Zappellans or Chapelain, Anceau de Rocheria, Enard de Valdencia, Guillaume de Roy, Geoffroy de Cera or de La Fere-en-Champagne, Robert Harle or de Hermenonville, and Dreux de Chevru; the two others, Robert de Mortefontaine and Robert de Monts-de-Soissons, perhaps appear under different names. We don’t know the reasons why those nine Templars were not taken back to Gisors. They are catalogued as ‘non-reconciled’: that is, they had not been absolved and reconciled with the Church by a diocesan commission. They attended neither the Council of Sens nor that of Reims in May 1310. They were from different dioceses: Toul, Sens, Chalons-en-Champagne, Treves but also Soissons (Guillaume de Roy), Laon (Geoffroy de La Fere) and Senlis (Robert Harle)..
  9. Web site: Bulletin de la Société académique de Laon . Société académique de Laon . Bibliothèque nationale de France . 12 July 2023 . Procès des Templiers" "Nicolas de Celles; Gauthier de Villesavoye; Etienne de Compiègne; Robert de Montreuil-aux-Lions, pètre; Guillaume de Roy; Geoffroy de Cère; Eloi de Pavant; Raoul et Pierre de Compiègne, Pierre d'Anizy défendront tous l'Ordre. . 1864 .
  10. Web site: Les Templiers . Mémoires historiques sur les Templiers, ou Éclaircissemens nouveaux sur leur histoire, leur procès, les accusations intentées contr'eux, et les causes secrètes de leur ruine . De Philippe Antoine Grouvelle. 1805. 12 July 2023 . Noms des Frères rassemblés le 28 mars 1310, devant les Commissaires charges par le Pape de l'Enquête sur les griefs imputés à l'Ordre du Temple en général... 184. Guillaume De Roy.
  11. Web site: François Le Roy, chevalier de l'ordre du Roi. France Archives (Portail National Des Archives) . 14 July 2023 . François Le Roy, chevalier de l'ordre du Roi, capitaine des Cent gentilshommes de sa maison, conseiller du Roi au conseil privé, comte de Clinchamp et de Chavigny et Antoinette de La Tour, dame de Vaurineux, sa femme : testament.....
  12. Web site: Armorial du Saint-Esprit : Seigneur François Le Roy. Bibliothèque nationale de France. Département des Manuscrits. . 14 July 2023 . Recueil de tous les chevaliers de l'ordre du Saint Esprit, depuis l'institution jusques en la presente année mil six cens trente un, avec les armoiries... le tout recueilly et mis en ordre par le Sr DE VALLES, de la ville de Chartres, en Beauce. A Paris..
  13. Web site: Domaine de La Grange-le-Roi (Grisy-Suisnes). France Archives (Portail National Des Archives) - Archives départementales de Seine-et-Marne . 2020 . 4 February 2025 . Les historiens et chercheurs sont revenus de la théorie du XIXe siècle attribuant la fondation du château de la Grange à François Ier. L'appellation « Le-Roy », ou plus tardivement « le-Roi », ne découle en effet d'aucune intervention du roi ou quelconque appartenance au domaine royal. Elle résulte plutôt de l'acquisition du domaine par Jacques Le Roy, mis en possession du château et de la seigneurie de la Grange les 8 et 21 octobre 1579. Le village de la Grange, composé d'habitants travaillant presque tous pour le château, est érigé en paroisse en 1580. Le 7 novembre 1581, Jacques de Camprémy, un des successeurs des Le Picart à Grisy, vend la terre et seigneurie éponyme à Jacques Le Roy. Ce dernier obtient du pouvoir royal la haute justice sur Grisy et ses dépendances, qui restent entre les mains des propriétaires du château de la Grange jusqu'à la Révolution française et l'abolition des privilèges."Jacques Le Roy est un personnage de premier plan dans l'entourage d'Henri IV. Conseiller du roi, il est aussi Grand Louvetier de France (1582-1601), trésorier de l'Épargne (1580-1588) et surintendant des Bâtiments à Fontainebleau. Il occupe également la charge de lieutenant du gouverneur de Melun en 1590 avant de devenir lui-même gouverneur de la place l'année suivante. En 1594, il achète au roi le comté de Melun. La famille Le Roy pourvoit ses membres de nombreux bénéfices ecclésiastiques dans les environs, comme au monastère d'Hermières en Brie, à l'abbaye des Bénédictins de Melun ou à l'abbaye de Quincy. Un des fils de Jacques Le Roy, François Le Roy, hérite de son titre de seigneur de la Grange-le-Roy en 1608..
  14. Web site: Congrès archéologique de France : séances générales tenues ... par la Société française pour la conservation des monuments historiques. Société française d'archéologie . 1997 . 23 August 2023 . Du château fort au château neuf Modeste fief de Lerné, la terre de Chavigny, qui relevait du château de Loudun et qui est érigée en châtellenie en 1518, appartenait dès le XIV e siècle â la famille Le Roy. Le 19 juillet 1432, Guillaume Le Roy obtient l’autorisation de fortifier son manoir, qui présente bientôt « fossés, tour, pont-levis, barbacane, mâchicoulis et autres rempare-ments » (5). En 1543, François Le Roy (1519-1606), capitaine d'une compagnie d’archers qui combat en Piémont sous les ordres du maréchal de Brissac, modernise le château familial en bâtissant un corps de galeries (6)..
  15. Book: The Knight in Medieval England, 1000-1400. Peter Coss . 1993 . Alan Sutton Publishing . 978-0-7509-0127-7 . 76 . The adoption of the territorial surname, the name preceded by 'de', was a clear indicator of the crystallizing identity of the knightly class... it signified not just a place of origin, but a stable association between a family and its caput [head of the fief], transforming a mere name into a hereditary claim of status and land..
  16. Web site: Annales de démographie historique. Noms de famille et noms de terre dans la noblesse française à l’époque moderne . 14 February 2026 . La noblesse française d’Ancien Régime est un bon observatoire des usages des noms et de leurs transformations dans le temps. On le sait, les nobles se caractérisaient par deux types de noms, les noms de famille, appelés surnoms, et les noms de seigneurie, qu’il n’était pas si facile de distinguer puisque les premiers pouvaient provenir des seconds... Dans la noblesse, la transmission du nom fut donc d’emblée largement liée à la possession de seigneuries, féodalité et essor du surnom se combinant pour fonder le système anthroponymique nobiliaire associant nom « personnel » (de famille) et nom...Les noms réels étaient une expression de l’idéologie féodale, d’où l’importance de la particule « de », qui pouvait être l’indice d’un nom personnel ancré dans une origine seigneuriale.. 2016. Élie Haddad .
  17. Book: The Knights Templar Encyclopedia: The Essential Guide to the People, Places, Events, and Symbols of the Order of the Temple. Dr. Karen Ralls . 2007 . New Page Books . 9781564149268 . 368 . The knight was the backbone of the battlefield. Knights were the equivalent of the cavalry. A small force of knights was very powerful, skilled in warfare, clad in armor, able to take on a large number of foot soldiers. Only a man whose father and grandfather both had been knights could become one, and if he were caught lying about his lineage, the penalty was severe. No bastard (illegitimate) son could be a knight...candidates for the rank of knight typically had to be knighted in the secular world before joining the Order..
  18. Book: Knighthood: A History of the Order of the Temple. Malcolm Barber . 1994 . Cambridge University Press . 978-0521420419 . 205 . And if the brother is a knight, we do not ask him any of that, but we can ask him if he is the son of a knight and a lady, and that his fathers are of the lineage of knights; and if it is a loyal marriage….
  19. Book: Acta Templarorium ou la prosopographie des templiers. Préface de. Jean-Luc Alias . 2002 . Les Trois Spirales . 978-2-84773-006-7 . 363,573 . ROY (Guillaume de) Templier c. 1307...Frère chevalier.
  20. Web site: Bibliothèque nationale de France. Le procès des Templiers, Tome I. . 11 February 2026 . Post hec, eadem die Jovis accessimus ad domum Johannis le Grant, sitam Parisius prope ponctam sancti Heustachii, ubi detinebantur XXX Templarii, ex hiis qui fuerant in dicto viridario domini episcopi Parisiensis, ut supradictum est, videlicet fratres P. Bons, Ansellus de la Rochiera, Evrardus de Valdencia, P. de Dampno Martino, Thomas de Trecis, Lambertus de Gorzol, G. de Conde, Raynaldus de Landovilla, Robertus de Morestoirol...Guillelmus de Roy...Requisitus si viderat aliquem alium recipi in ordine, respondit quod sic, fratres Bertrandum de Crotoy quondam, et Guillelmum de Roy, in dicta capella, per dictum fratrem Johannem de Sernoy, in festo Omnium Sanctorum proxime preterito fuerunt XI anni vel circa, presentibus fratribus qui interfuerant recepcioni ipsius testis...Guillelmus de Roy Suessionensis, Thomas de Luier Remensis, et Richardus de Marselhie Ebroicensis diocesium responderunt quod volunt dictum ordinem deffendere...Roy (F. Guillelmus de); p. 85, 106, 133, 547..
  21. Web site: Association des familles Roy d'Amérique . Governor General of Canada. Register of Arms, Flags, and Badges of Canada. . 5 August 2023 . Grant of Arms, September 14, 1997, Vol. III, p. 195. Arms of the Association des familles Roy d'Amérique Blazon Azure upon a base barry-wavy Argent and Azure a 17th century French ship Or sails and flags Argent in chief a man's and a woman's hands clasped Argent the whole between two ears of wheat totaling forty-two grains Or; Crest Blazon A compass rose Argent; Motto Blazon JOIE • FRATERNITÉ • RESPECT, meaning "Joy • Brotherhood • Respect"; Background Canada Gazette Information The announcement of the letters patent was made on November 22, 1997 in Volume 131, page 3591 of the Canada Gazette. . 1997 .
  22. Web site: Tristan Roy . Governor General of Canada. Register of Arms, Flags, and Badges of Canada. . 12 August 2023 . Mont Royal, Quebec Grant of Arms, with differences to Ariël Thériault-Roy and Lancelot Thériault-Roy August 15, 2013 Vol. VI, p. 254. The blue from the arms of the kings of France symbolizes Mr. Roy’s surname (“king” in English). The colour also appears on the flag of the Carignan-Salières Regiment, with which his ancestor, Antoine Roy, served upon arriving in New France in 1665. The ship and waves are taken from the arms of the Association des familles Roy d’Amérique. The compass rose is taken from the arms of the Association des familles Roy d’Amérique and symbolizes exploration and astronomy, two of Mr. Roy’s passions. The fleurs-de-lis, symbols of the kings of France, refer to his surname and French roots.. 2013 .
  23. Web site: Plaque de Nicolas Leroy et Jeanne Lelièvre. Vue avant . Gouvernement du Québec, Culture et Communications . 24 August 2023 . Association des familles Roy d’Amérique... Texte de la plaque...Hommage à une famille pionnière...Nicolas Leroy et Jeanne Lelièvre arrivés en Nouvelle-France en 1661, de Dieppe, Normandie, établis en la seigneurie de La Durantaye en 1676, et dont plusieurs enfants ont vécu à Saint-Vallier...Dévoilement fait en l'an 2000, à la veille du 325e anniversaire de leur établissement sur la Rive sud.. 2000 .
  24. Web site: Anglo-Norman. Collins English Dictionary . 17 September 2024 . Anglo-Norman in British English history adjective 1. relating to the Norman conquerors of England, their society, or their language noun 2. a Norman inhabitant of England after 1066 3. the Anglo-French language.
  25. Web site: Dictionary of English and Welsh surnames. A dictionary of English and Welsh surnames, with special American instances . 26 January 2026 . Roy - Nick. 'le roi,' the king; v. King and Rex. Simon Roy co. Camb., 1273.
  26. Web site: Les roys de Engeltere: An illustrated genealogy for King Edward I (Cotton MS Vitellius A XIII/1) . Les roys de Engeltere . 17 September 2024 . The series of images of English kings from Edward the Confessor to Edward I in London, British Library, Cotton MS Vitellius A. XIII/1 is widely familiar from television, textbooks, websites, and exhibitions. In spite of this, the origins and context of this set of four leaves are mysterious. The limited attention given to them has focused on the images rather than the Anglo-Norman captions attached to them, which forms a genealogy of the kings, derived from earlier sources. "Sir Lowys fiz le Roy Phylippe de Fraunce en Engletere. Le Roy Jon regna .xvii. aunz e demy..." "Sir Louis, the son of Philip king of France, came into England.... King John reigned for seventeen and a half years..." . 1272–1307 .
  27. Web site: Norroy. Collins English Dictionary . 2 July 2023 . Word origin C15: Old French nor north + roy king.
  28. Web site: The general armory of England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales; comprising a registry of armorial bearings from the earliest to the present time . Burke, Bernard, Sir . London : Harrison & sons (Internet Archive) . 2 July 2023 . "Norroy King of Arms", the most ancient of the heraldic sovereigns in England possesses as his province, England north of the Trent. He is the North King — "Norroy." The English Heralds bear the designation of "Windsor", "Chester", "Somerset", "Lancaster", "York" and "Richmond" the Pursuivants, are known by the names of "Rouge Dragon", "Rouge Croix", "Bluemantle" and "Portcullis." The date of the creation of the historic and dignified office of Garter King of Arms may be fixed with certainty to have been between May and September, 1417. The first Garter was William Bruges, originally styled "Guyenne King of Arms" and subsequently "Garteir Roy d'Armes des Anglois." By the constitution of King Henry VIII., it was provided that Garter should be Sovereign within the College of Arms above all the other officers... . 1884 .
  29. Web site: Fitzroy. Dictionary of American family names . 30 May 2023 . Irish: Anglo-Norman French patronymic from fi(t)z ‘son’ (see Fitz) + Roy ‘king son of the king’. It is usually taken to imply that the original bearer was a bastard son of the king....
  30. Web site: Stowe MS 594 . William Bruges’ Garter Book . 28 May 2023 . Languages: Anglo-Norman . Bruges . William . 1430–1440 . 9 January 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200109222010/http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?ref=Stowe_MS_594 . dead .
  31. Web site: Roy Edward (Edward III) manuscript . William Bruges’ Garter Book . 28 May 2023 . Edward III and Henry, Duke of Lancaster, of the Order of the Garter. . Bruges . William . 1430–1440 . 28 May 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230528154233/https://www.bl.uk/catalogues/illuminatedmanuscripts/ILLUMIN.ASP?Size=mid&IllID=5334 . dead .
  32. Web site: Le roy. Origins of the English People and the English Languages . 23 May 2023 . ...the kings of England have retained the custom of using the Old Norman language when they give the royal assent... as: Le roy le veult; . Roemer . Jean . 1888 .
  33. Web site: House of Commons Procedure and Practice Second Edition, 2009 . House of Commons Canada . 30 May 2023 . He did so using the formulas le roy le veult to signify assent and le roy s’avisera to withhold it. Until the latter part of the reign of Edward III (1327‑77), all parliamentary proceedings were conducted in Norman French. The use of English was extremely rare until the reign of Henry IV (1399‑1413). Beginning with the reign of Henry VII (1485‑1509), English was used for all proceedings, with the exception of the Royal Assent, which was always expressed in French . 2009 .

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