Fay
Fay was given to 39 girls in 2025, #3,794 among girls’ names; 36,177 Americans have been recorded with it since 1880 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 9,800 Americans named Fay and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (27% of everyone recorded); the median is 73 years old and half are between 62 and 82.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Fay by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Fay mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Fay is “a female given name, pet form of Faith or Frances; often used as a middle name.”
/feɪ/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Fay?
#3,794 among girls’ names, 2025
Fay rose from #5,346 in 2015 to #3,794 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born rose from 14.0 to 24.3 per million.
842 babies in 1915, the peak
Fay peaked in 1915, when 842 babies were given it (701 girls, #224 among girls’ names). The 39 births of 2025 are 5% of that peak.
Births by sex.
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 39 | #3,794 | under 5 | |
| 2024 | 46 | #3,421 | under 5 | |
| 2023 | 34 | #4,220 | under 5 | |
| 2022 | 38 | #3,907 | under 5 | |
| 2021 | 43 | #3,568 | under 5 | |
| 2020 | 33 | #4,199 | under 5 | |
| 2019 | 38 | #3,869 | under 5 | |
| 2018 | 39 | #3,805 | under 5 | |
| 2017 | 26 | #5,094 | under 5 | |
| 2016 | 45 | #3,486 | under 5 |
Every recorded year (146)
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 25 | #5,346 | under 5 | |
| 2014 | 34 | #4,300 | under 5 | |
| 2013 | 26 | #5,190 | under 5 | |
| 2012 | 30 | #4,755 | under 5 | |
| 2011 | 26 | #5,262 | under 5 | |
| 2010 | 22 | #6,035 | under 5 | |
| 2009 | 26 | #5,436 | under 5 | |
| 2008 | 20 | #6,634 | under 5 | |
| 2007 | 26 | #5,422 | under 5 | |
| 2006 | 27 | #5,136 | under 5 | |
| 2005 | 16 | #7,244 | under 5 | |
| 2004 | 25 | #5,107 | under 5 | |
| 2003 | 25 | #4,986 | under 5 | |
| 2002 | 23 | #5,136 | under 5 | |
| 2001 | 17 | #6,418 | under 5 | |
| 2000 | 24 | #4,839 | under 5 | |
| 1999 | 13 | #7,372 | under 5 | |
| 1998 | 19 | #5,435 | under 5 | |
| 1997 | 17 | #5,697 | under 5 | |
| 1996 | 11 | #7,757 | under 5 | |
| 1995 | 15 | #6,053 | under 5 | |
| 1994 | 17 | #5,527 | under 5 | |
| 1993 | 16 | #5,752 | under 5 | |
| 1992 | 16 | #5,806 | under 5 | |
| 1991 | 20 | #4,859 | under 5 | |
| 1990 | 26 | #3,935 | under 5 | |
| 1989 | 29 | #3,498 | under 5 | |
| 1988 | 26 | #3,617 | under 5 | |
| 1987 | 27 | #3,358 | under 5 | |
| 1986 | 25 | #3,478 | under 5 | |
| 1985 | 32 | #2,879 | under 5 | |
| 1984 | 32 | #2,798 | under 5 | |
| 1983 | 35 | #2,561 | under 5 | |
| 1982 | 36 | #2,601 | under 5 | |
| 1981 | 32 | #2,801 | under 5 | |
| 1980 | 42 | #2,318 | under 5 | |
| 1979 | 31 | #2,814 | under 5 | |
| 1978 | 46 | #2,063 | under 5 | |
| 1977 | 52 | #1,908 | under 5 | |
| 1976 | 55 | #1,736 | 8 | #4,132 |
| 1975 | 50 | #1,846 | under 5 | |
| 1974 | 48 | #1,828 | under 5 | |
| 1973 | 54 | #1,671 | under 5 | |
| 1972 | 51 | #1,731 | 5 | #5,217 |
| 1971 | 69 | #1,478 | 6 | #4,580 |
| 1970 | 68 | #1,480 | 5 | #4,946 |
| 1969 | 82 | #1,237 | 10 | #2,930 |
| 1968 | 111 | #994 | 6 | #3,846 |
| 1967 | 111 | #971 | 9 | #2,840 |
| 1966 | 140 | #844 | under 5 | |
| 1965 | 155 | #794 | 5 | #4,086 |
| 1964 | 184 | #767 | 9 | #2,923 |
| 1963 | 210 | #704 | 9 | #2,918 |
| 1962 | 227 | #683 | 11 | #2,562 |
| 1961 | 246 | #653 | 16 | #2,090 |
| 1960 | 274 | #601 | 12 | #2,463 |
| 1959 | 260 | #615 | 12 | #2,458 |
| 1958 | 302 | #563 | 13 | #2,297 |
| 1957 | 265 | #596 | 16 | #2,043 |
| 1956 | 328 | #516 | 16 | #2,035 |
| 1955 | 263 | #560 | 21 | #1,696 |
| 1954 | 321 | #495 | 14 | #2,145 |
| 1953 | 302 | #500 | 18 | #1,856 |
| 1952 | 320 | #471 | 21 | #1,678 |
| 1951 | 393 | #421 | 20 | #1,691 |
| 1950 | 376 | #412 | 20 | #1,670 |
| 1949 | 401 | #397 | 33 | #1,262 |
| 1948 | 354 | #421 | 20 | #1,672 |
| 1947 | 420 | #389 | 33 | #1,279 |
| 1946 | 410 | #374 | 34 | #1,201 |
| 1945 | 335 | #384 | 32 | #1,169 |
| 1944 | 390 | #349 | 40 | #1,042 |
| 1943 | 471 | #324 | 38 | #1,111 |
| 1942 | 489 | #309 | 50 | #937 |
| 1941 | 430 | #318 | 43 | #979 |
| 1940 | 497 | #280 | 59 | #813 |
| 1939 | 502 | #277 | 42 | #982 |
| 1938 | 496 | #282 | 53 | #854 |
| 1937 | 550 | #268 | 47 | #915 |
| 1936 | 530 | #263 | 61 | #781 |
| 1935 | 543 | #263 | 71 | #726 |
| 1934 | 633 | #247 | 83 | #667 |
| 1933 | 608 | #247 | 79 | #658 |
| 1932 | 655 | #241 | 71 | #741 |
| 1931 | 632 | #239 | 82 | #661 |
| 1930 | 614 | #251 | 83 | #686 |
| 1929 | 654 | #244 | 80 | #690 |
| 1928 | 628 | #258 | 88 | #670 |
| 1927 | 665 | #254 | 97 | #643 |
| 1926 | 722 | #243 | 111 | #598 |
| 1925 | 607 | #269 | 119 | #571 |
| 1924 | 563 | #278 | 113 | #600 |
| 1923 | 595 | #264 | 122 | #567 |
| 1922 | 568 | #273 | 129 | #557 |
| 1921 | 612 | #270 | 128 | #556 |
| 1920 | 690 | #250 | 134 | #528 |
| 1919 | 660 | #250 | 148 | #491 |
| 1918 | 662 | #248 | 123 | #541 |
| 1917 | 690 | #238 | 142 | #481 |
| 1916 | 676 | #235 | 153 | #457 |
| 1915 | 701 | #224 | 141 | #462 |
| 1914 | 566 | #223 | 102 | #482 |
| 1913 | 427 | #233 | 83 | #477 |
| 1912 | 436 | #213 | 56 | #534 |
| 1911 | 339 | #208 | 27 | #590 |
| 1910 | 316 | #205 | 24 | #588 |
| 1909 | 246 | #228 | 28 | #491 |
| 1908 | 267 | #204 | 20 | #569 |
| 1907 | 257 | #202 | 15 | #677 |
| 1906 | 215 | #212 | 15 | #626 |
| 1905 | 215 | #211 | 28 | #404 |
| 1904 | 186 | #225 | 19 | #500 |
| 1903 | 190 | #219 | 36 | #313 |
| 1902 | 181 | #223 | 32 | #349 |
| 1901 | 151 | #235 | 26 | #365 |
| 1900 | 170 | #248 | 30 | #416 |
| 1899 | 139 | #235 | 23 | #388 |
| 1898 | 171 | #223 | 25 | #398 |
| 1897 | 141 | #236 | 13 | #590 |
| 1896 | 107 | #281 | 21 | #430 |
| 1895 | 121 | #257 | 23 | #401 |
| 1894 | 124 | #242 | 34 | #302 |
| 1893 | 89 | #283 | 35 | #294 |
| 1892 | 97 | #270 | 20 | #429 |
| 1891 | 92 | #253 | 21 | #380 |
| 1890 | 99 | #250 | 25 | #353 |
| 1889 | 84 | #256 | 19 | #420 |
| 1888 | 63 | #298 | 14 | #537 |
| 1887 | 47 | #312 | 17 | #413 |
| 1886 | 37 | #353 | 25 | #342 |
| 1885 | 48 | #290 | 18 | #427 |
| 1884 | 39 | #317 | 20 | #403 |
| 1883 | 28 | #338 | 15 | #466 |
| 1882 | 34 | #302 | 15 | #476 |
| 1881 | 18 | #399 | 15 | #448 |
| 1880 | 13 | #478 | 15 | #471 |
Ranks: girls’ names and boys’ names ranked separately in each year’s SSA file; “under 5” is a year SSA did not list the name for that sex.
Is Fay a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 36,177 Americans recorded as Fay, 89% are girls and 11% boys. In 2025 it went to 39 girls; SSA lists no boys with it that year (fewer than 5, or none).
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Fay: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Fay, and how old are they?
9,800 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 27% of the 36,177 Americans ever recorded as Fay. The median Fay alive today is 73 years old; half are between 62 and 82.
The 2020 Census counted 13,775 people named Fay (13,102 women and girls, 673 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 12,415 born in the U.S. The Census count is 11% above that prediction. Possible reasons: the Census counts people born abroad, whom SSA’s files leave out, and it records the name people give, which SSA may have recorded under another spelling or as part of a compound name.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 2,760 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 4,660 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 1,120 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 383 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 352 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 463 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Where are babies named Fay born?
The states with the most babies named Fay are New York, Pennsylvania and Texas, with 31% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| New York | 3,272 | not ranked | 1.1× |
| Pennsylvania | 2,565 | not ranked | 1.1× |
| Texas | 2,107 | not ranked | 1.2× |
| Michigan | 1,092 | not ranked | 0.9× |
| Illinois | 1,002 | not ranked | 0.6× |
| California | 995 | #2,344 | 0.6× |
| Ohio | 889 | not ranked | 0.6× |
| Arkansas | 866 | not ranked | 1.6× |
| Louisiana | 865 | not ranked | 1.3× |
| North Carolina | 771 | not ranked | 0.7× |
Where Fay is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Fay is most over-represented in Utah: since 1910 it was given 1.6 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among girls’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Fay with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names spelled alike
Of these 4 names spelled alike, given to 111,629 babies since 1880, Fay is the second most given (32% of them). In 2025 it was given to 39 of their 668 babies (5.8%), again the second most given.
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Fay
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Fay and names like it
- Compare Fay and FayeBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1910sFay peaked in 1915.
- New York’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Fay since 1910.
- The top names of 1915The year the most babies were named Fay.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Fay alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with FMost given first.