Roy — #541 US boys' name
408,050 babies named Roy in U.S. Social Security records since 1880, with the highest year being 1947. Year-by-year trend, decade aggregates, and state-level rankings drawn from federal birth data.
More common than 96% of names given to boys today.
16% of everyone ever named Roy was born in this single decade.
7,560 babies were named Roy in 1947 — its busiest year on record.
What the Data Says About Roy
The Social Security Administration has registered 408,050 babies named Roy between 1880 and 2024, spanning 145 consecutive years of U.S. birth records. As a boy's name, Roy currently holds the #541 rank among boys for 2024. The name reached its historical peak in 1947, when 7,560 babies received it in a single year.
Decade-level aggregation shows that Roy performed strongest in the 1940s, accumulating 65,645 births during that ten-year window. Across the 15 decades of recorded activity, Roy shows a clear decline from its mid-century high. Geographically, the name is most concentrated in Texas, which accounts for 36,527 births — the largest state-level total in the dataset — followed by California and New York. In total, SSA state-level files list Roy in 51 of the 51 U.S. reporting jurisdictions.
No etymological entry is currently available for Roy in our reference dataset. These figures derive from SSA's annual national and state-level name files, which include any name appearing at least five times in a given year or state-year; names below that threshold are suppressed for privacy and therefore excluded from the totals shown here. The 408,050 total represents a lower bound — actual usage may be higher in years or states where the count fell below the disclosure floor. This page is provided for informational and research purposes only and does not constitute personal, legal, or naming advice.
Roy at a glance
Top 1,000 boys' namePeak year
Current rank
Active since
Roy popularity over time — boys
Annual U.S. births registered with the Social Security Administration · 2024–1880
- Peak year (1947)
- 7,560
- Annual births at peak — across 145 years of records
Currently ranks #541 among boys.
408,050 total births across 145 years of SSA records. Peaked in 1947 with 7,560 births in a single year.
Roy popularity over time — girls
2,693 total births recorded since 1885 (Roy as girls' name)
Unisex use remains the minority pattern
The girls' variant of Roy accounts for 1% of total recorded use across both genders.
Roy by decade
Total births in each ten-year window — peak vs trough at a glance
- Peak decade
- 1940s
- 65,645 births that decade — 16% of Roy's all-time total
Roy decade highlights
- Peak decade 65,645 births
- Runner-up 63,259 births
- Modern era share 2010s + 2020s
- Decades tracked with recorded births
1940s was Roy's strongest decade
65,645 babies received the name during that ten-year window — about 16% of all-time use.
Roy by state
Where Roy concentrates geographically — total births since 1880
| Rank | State | Visual share | Births | Share of total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | Texas | | 36,527 | 9.0% |
| #2 | California | | 22,574 | 5.5% |
| #3 | New York | | 17,487 | 4.3% |
| #4 | Illinois | | 17,034 | 4.2% |
| #5 | North Carolina | | 15,973 | 3.9% |
| #6 | Pennsylvania | | 15,644 | 3.8% |
| #7 | Tennessee | | 15,263 | 3.7% |
| #8 | Georgia | | 15,052 | 3.7% |
36,527 of 408,050 births nationwide. Compared to a flat distribution across 51 reporting states.
Top 5 states
- Texas 9.0% of nationwide
- California 5.5% of nationwide
- New York 4.3% of nationwide
- Illinois 4.2% of nationwide
- North Carolina 3.9% of nationwide
Recorded in 51 of 51 SSA jurisdictions
Texas accounts for 9.0% of all recorded births nationwide — a relatively diffuse profile for this name.
Roy appears in 51 states. Explore state details →
Frequently Asked Questions
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Data Sources
Data as of 2024. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration (SSA).
Primary: Source: U.S. Social Security Administration, Baby Names from Social Security Card Applications — National Data, 1880–2024 (ssa.gov/oact/babynames). National-level data includes all names with 5 or more occurrences in a given year.
State-level: Source: U.S. Social Security Administration, Baby Names — State-Level Files (namesbystate.zip). Includes all names with 5 or more occurrences per state per year; rarer names are excluded for privacy.