Guy
Boy nameGuy has been given to 91,102 babies in the U.S. since 1880. It peaked in 1957.
Meaning & origin /ɡaɪ/
From Old French Gui, from a Frankish form of Proto-West Germanic *Widō (compare Old Dutch Wido), a short form of names beginning with the element *widu (“wood”), from Proto-Germanic *widuz; see for example modern German Witold and Old Saxon Widukind. Cognate with Italian Guido and thus a doublet of Guido. More at wood.
Origin: Germanic languages
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Popularity over time births per year, 1880–2025
Total babies
91,102
Peak year
1957 (2,311 babies)
Rank in 2025
Below top 1000
First recorded
1880
10-year trend
▼ -34%
Gender split
1% girls / 99% boys
Rank through the decades
Guy's rank among U.S. boy names at 25-year milestones.
| Year | Boys rank |
|---|---|
| 1900 | #99 |
| 1925 | #157 |
| 1950 | #179 |
| 1975 | #330 |
| 2000 | #801 |
— means outside the top 1000 that year.
Spellings & variants
Names one letter away from Guy — alternate spellings parents actually use.
Famous people named Guy
Guy de Maupassant
French writer (1850-1893)
Guy Fawkes
English member of the Gunpowder Plot of 1605
Callixtus II
Pope from 1119 to 1124
Clement IV
Pope (1265-1268)
Notability data from Wikidata (CC0).
Names with a similar vibe
Same primary gender, peaked around the same years, and roughly as common as Guy.
FAQ
How popular is the name Guy?
Guy has been given to 91,102 babies in the U.S. since 1880. It ranked below the top 1000 in 2025.
When did the name Guy peak?
Guy peaked in 1957, when 2,311 babies were given the name.
Is Guy a girl or boy name?
Guy is primarily a boy name (99% of babies named Guy are boys).
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