Rey
A surname from the French word for “king,” often a nickname or a name taken from a royal title.
The #4,403 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 38,239 Americans shares it.
Etymology
In the French surname tradition, Rey comes from Old French rey or rei, meaning “king,” from Latin rex, regis, “king.” In English and Scandinavian contexts, the same spelling was also used as a form of Ray, so the surname can overlap with other unrelated names. The historical sense is usually nickname-like or honorific rather than literal title-bearing.
History
The name is recorded in British surname dictionaries as both a French import and an English/Scandinavian variant of Ray. In some cases it may have begun as a nickname or pageant-style name referring to a “kingly” person, though not every bearer shares the same origin. Its modern distribution in English-speaking countries reflects these mixed streams of entry.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
The underlying Latin word rex is the same root behind many royal terms in European languages, including “royal” through French roi.
From the historical record
“REX(S)TREW for Raokstraw, q.v. REY (Eng. and Scand.) for Ray, q.v. (Fr.-Lat.) King [O.Fr. rey, rei (^mod. roi), Lat. reg-em, ace. of rex, a king] REYBOLD, v. Raybold. REYBURN, V. Raeburn. REYNALDS, v. the commoner form Reynolds. REYNARD, v. Renard.”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)Notable people named Rey
- Micheline Calmy-Rey (b. 1945)
- Fernando Rey (1917–1994)
Sourced from Wikidata; linked to their Wikipedia page.