Boy name origins & meanings
- Old French : The king
Family name origins & meanings
- French : from Old French rey, roy ‘king’ (from Latinrex, genitive regis), with the definite articlele. It may have been an occupational name for someone in the service of the king, or a nickname for someone who behaved in a regal fashion or who had earned the title in some contest of skill or by presiding over festivities. The name is associated with Huguenots in British America, having been brought by them to MA from La Rochelle.