Fay

Where Fay comes from

The dictionaries list Fay as a given name — a female given name, pet form of Faith or Frances; often used as a middle name — but don't trace where it came from. The record below is what the SSA data shows.

  • 1 syllable
  • Vowel-ended
Along the way
  1. 1880
    First SSA year
    Already #466 among girls — 13 babies in the first year on record.
  2. 1881
    Mostly girls from here
    Until now more boys than girls got the name; from this year it's the other way round, and has stayed that way.
  3. 1893
    Fay Bainter born
    American actress
  4. 1907
    Fay Wray born
    actress
  5. 1907
    Peak, #202
    257 babies named Fay — more than any year before or since.
  6. 1967
    The fade
    The first year with half the peak's births — down to #970.
In the dictionary
  • A female given name, pet form of Faith or Frances; often used as a middle name.
Namesakes
  • 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

Sources: the origin note and dictionary entry are quoted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0); the namesakes come from Wikidata (CC0); the milestones are worked out from the SSA record.