Fay

English

"fairy"

Fay Origin and Meaning

The name Fay is a girl's name of English origin meaning "fairy".

Fay, also spelled Faye, who had been napping quietly since the 1930's, has, like cousins May/Mae and Ray/Rae, sat up and started rubbing her eyes, ready for a mini-comeback, especially as a middle name. In 2014, Faye hopped back onto the US Top 1000, though Fay is used much more quietly as a first name.

The original of the name, Morgan le Fay, was a powerful sorceress in the Arthurian Legends. Two prominent Fay W.'s are the British novelist Fay Weldon, and actress Fay Wray, most famous for sitting in the hand of King Kong, and there is a character named Fay in Nathanael West's The Day of the Locust. Most well-known Faye is actress Dunaway.

Fay was most popular in the U.S. in the early decades of the twentieth century, reaching Number 202 in 1907, while Faye was Number 146 in 1934.

Fay may also be a short form of Faith.

Fay Rank in US Top 1000

# 992 in the US

Fay Rank in Nameberry Top 1000

# 1225 on Nameberry

Popularity of the name Fay

• 1225 Nameberry 2025
• 83 Netherlands 2019

20 Names Similar to Fay

These 20 names were selected by our users that were looking for other names like Fay.

• Violette
• Sukie
• Lula
• Geneva
• Mona
• Mercy
• Lilibet
• Uma
• Honor
• Talullah
• Monet
• Twila
• Jules
• Vivi
• Zadie
• Pia
• Suki
• Mirabelle
• Gigi
• Mimi

Famous People Named Fay

• (Vina) Fay Wray American actress
• Fay Okell Bainter American actress
• Fay Elinora Lanphier Miss America 1925
• Fay Ripley English actress and recipe author
• Fay Compton (born Virginia Lilian Emmeline Compton Mackenzie), English actress
• Sarah Fay Wright American actress
• Fay Weldon English novelist
• Fay Baker American actress
• Fay Templeton American actress, singer and comedian
• Florence Priscilla (‘Fay’) McLaren (1884 1964), British suffragist

The name Fay in Pop Culture

• Morgan le Fay character/sorceress from Arthurian legend
• Fay Charlie's neighbor in Flowers for Algernon
• Fay Grim 2006 film starring Parker Posey
• Daisy Fay Buchanan main female character of The Great Gatsby
• Shasta Fay Hepworth female lead of the novel Inherent Vice by Thomas Pynchon