Boyd

Attested in 1 language in the etymology graph.

Names that people choosing a name often weigh against Boyd, most often first. They share a style rather than an origin.

• Floyd
• Clyde
• Clive
• Ansel
• Clark
• Cole
• Amos
• Lloyd
• Grady
• Dane
• Anson
• Dean

From the names suggested together in public name-advice forums, in English. A list of what people consider, not a measure of how common any name is.

Boyd is also recorded as another name, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• a separate name2 spellings in the group

87 further groups record this spelling and are not listed here.

Grouping is the name graph's, not a register's: two spellings join a group when the evidence links them, so a group is a claim about the records rather than about the people.

Boyd is also recorded in 5 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• In English, Gaelic buidhe 'yellow'; in Scotland and Ireland from Bute; first attested John Boyde 1301

  as a name·A Dictionary of English Surnames

• In English, Probably a place name from Bute (Gaelic Bód). Early forms include de Boyd (Robertus de Boyd, 1205), de Bodha and Boyt.

  as a name·Scottish Surnames

• In English, (i) John Boyde 1301 SRY. Gael, Ir buidhe ‘yellow’. The Manx name is from Mac Giolla Buidhe ‘the yellow-haired youth’s son’: Conn Mac Gillabhuidhe 1100, McOboy, McBooy 1511, Boid 1617 Moore. (ii) In Scotland and Ireland, from Bute (Gael Bod): Robert de Boyd 1205 Black; Walter de Boht c1272 ib.

  as a name·A Dictionary of English Surnames

• In English, A Scottish and Irish surname from Scottish Gaelic.

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

• In Irish, This Scottish name is very numerous in Ulster. It appears erroneously as O’Boyd in some of the northern hearth money rolls. In Scotland and Ireland it is usually derived from Bute; there is also a Manx name basically the same as the Irish MacElwee but changed to Boyd. The Boyd branch of the Stuarts claim that it derives from the adjective buidhe, yellow. App. Bibl

  as a name·The Surnames of Ireland

Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.

• William Boydb. 1895USAmerican actor (1895–1972)
• Alan Stephenson Boydb. 1922USAmerican politician (1922-2020)
• Stephen Boydb. 1931GBNorthern Irish actor (1931–1977)
• Guy Boydb. 1943USAmerican actor
• Pattie Boydb. 1944GBEnglish model, photographer (born 1944)
• Russell Boydb. 1944AUAustralian cinematographer
• William Boydb. 1952GBScottish novelist, short story writer, and screen writer (born 1952)
• Lynda Boydb. 1965CACanadian actress
• Billy Boydb. 1968GBScottish actor and musician
• John Boydb. 1981USAmerican actor (born 1981)

The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).

Register rows as of the 2026-10-09 data build.

What does the name Boyd mean, and where does it come from?

Perhaps person from Bute (‘island of fire’). Recorded by Encyclopedia of surnames [the complete companion to tracing your names history].

How do you pronounce Boyd?

A machine transcription gives /bɔɪd/ (IPA) for English.

In which country does Boyd have the most bearers?

In the United States, the national register counted about 153 thousand people named Boyd, more than in any other country we hold, where it is most often spelled boyd.

Where is Boyd most common?

Measured as a share of residents rather than as a count, Boyd is densest in Dominica — about 1 in 1.2 thousand people — even though United States holds more of our records for it.

How common is the name Boyd?

In the United States, the national register counted 153,469 people named Boyd in 2010, about 1 in 2.2 thousand residents.

How common is Boyd compared with other names?

In the United States, Boyd is the 146th most common surname of 6,282,806 surnames recorded there.