Moy
A surname with both Irish-Scottish place-name roots and, in some cases, French local origins.
The #4,046 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 35,161 Americans shares it.
Etymology
In the Gaelic world, Moy is linked to magh, meaning “plain” or “level field,” and is used in several Irish and Scottish place-names. The surname can therefore be locational, for someone from a place called Moy or Moye. Some English and French bearers may also have taken the name from places in France, though the older sources are cautious about the exact derivation there.
History
The name is found in Scottish and Irish contexts tied to places called Moy, and historical surname dictionaries also connect it with Irish forms such as O’Moy. In English records, Moy can appear as a shortened or adapted spelling of related place-based surnames. The surname is less common than many other locational names, but it has persisted in both the British Isles and later in the United States.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
One old surname source explicitly glosses Moy as meaning a “plain or level field,” which is why it turns up in several Celtic place-names.
From the historical record
“MOXON, M.ocG'sSow.Mogg= Magg:v. Maggs. MOY 1 (Celt.) Bel. to Moy (Scotland and MOYE J Ireland) = a Plain or Level Field [Gael, and Ir; magh] (Fr.-?Celt.) Bel. to Moy, Moye (France) [perh. of same meaning and origin as above, the Celt. (Gaul.) word being Latin- ized mag-us] MOYCE 1 (Fr.-Heb.) Anglicized forms of Fr.…”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)Notable people named Moy
- Mary, mother of Jesus (-17–48)
Sourced from Wikidata; linked to their Wikipedia page.