Percy

Where Percy comes from

Proper noun senses 1 (surname) and 3 (place names) are derived from Norman Percy (“a baronial surname”), from Percy-en-Auge (“a place in Pays d’Auge, Normandy, France”, literally “Percy in Auge”), from Old French Perci, from Late Latin Persiacum, from Latin Persius (“a Gallo-Roman nomen gentile”), from Etruscan 𐌐𐌄𐌓𐌔𐌖 (persu); further etymology uncertain, possibly from 𐌘𐌄𐌓𐌔𐌖 (φersu, “mask”). Proper noun sense 2 (given name) is either from the above, or is a clipping of Perc(ival) + -y (suffix forming familiar names). The common noun is derived from the proper noun. Sense 2 (“penis”) is probably from the fact that Percy and penis begin with the same letter.
— Wiktionary's entry for Percy
  • 2 syllables
  • Vowel-ended
Along the way
  1. 1792
    Percy Bysshe Shelley born
    British Romantic poet
  2. 1880
    First SSA year
    Already #144 among boys — 94 babies in the first year on record.
  3. 1897
    Peak, #98
    183 babies named Percy — more than any year before or since.
  4. 1986
    The fade
    The first year with half the peak's births — down to #958.
  5. 2000
    Percy Liza born
    Peruvian footballer
In the dictionary
  • A male given name transferred from the surname or from a clipping of Percival, of Middle Ages and later usage.
Namesakes
  • Percy Bysshe Shelley · British Romantic poet, 1792–1822
  • Percy Liza · Peruvian footballer, born 2000
  • Percy Williams Bridgman · American physicist, 1882–1961
  • Percy Sledge · American singer, 1941–2015
  • Percy Fawcett · British explorer, anthropologist and archaeologist, 1867–1925

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.