Faye

Spellings & scripts●

Locally spelled 피 in KR South Korea.

Spellings marked ● are how people bearing the name write it in our records; ○ marks a model's transliteration. Click a spelling to open its page.

Meaning & origin●

Attested in 1 language in the etymology graph.

Languages●

Language is read off each record's context, not declared by the bearer; a share is of all records for this spelling.

Other names spelled this way◐

Faye is also recorded as 5 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• a separate given name92K records spelled Faye2 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Italy

  Also written Fayé

• Spanish given name89K records spelled Faye7 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Philippines, Brazil, Argentina

  Languages: Spanish, Portuguese

  Also written Fayé, Fayë, Fàyê, Fäye

• French given name70K records spelled Faye14 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in France, United States, Senegal, Philippines

  Languages: French, Catalan

  Also written Fayé, Fāyę, Fäýė, Fäyë, Fãyę

• Indonesian given name6.1K records spelled Faye4 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Indonesia, Philippines, United States, Malaysia

  Languages: Indonesian, Malay, Malagasy

  Also written Fayé

• Russian given name6.0K records spelled Faye42 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Poland, Czechia, China

  Languages: Russian, Polish, Czech

  Also written Фэй, Fay, Fei, Фей, Fey

77 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.

Other recorded senses●

Faye is also recorded in 4 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• In French, English name from Old French fae/fée ‘fairy’

  as a name·Le grand guide des prénoms (Enfant - Education)

• Variant of (Fay, associated particularly with the American actress Faye Dunaway (b. 1941).

  as a name·A concise dictionary of first names

• In French, Feminine of Félix; from Latin, “faith.”

  as a name·Le grand guide des prénoms (Enfant - Education)

• In German, ) Fay [fei]: gegen Ende des 19. Jh.s in

  as a name·DUDEN Lexikon der Vornamen

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.

Over time●

US SSA — National Baby Names (1880–present) — 146 years between 1880–2025. One register's own figures, never a sum across registers: two registers counting the same people would double them.

Notable people with this name●

• Faye Emersonb. 1917USAmerican actress (1917–1983)
• Faye Dunawayb. 1941USAmerican actress
• Jerry Hallb. 1956USnot in their usual nameAmerican model
• Faye Grantb. 1957USAmerican actress
• Faye Wongb. 1969CNHong Kong singer-songwriter and actress
• Faye Whiteb. 1978GBEnglish association football player (born 1978)
• Jessica Gunningb. 1986GBnot in their usual nameBritish television and theatre actress
• Faye Marsayb. 1986GBBritish actress
• Faye Reaganb. 1988USAmerican pornographic actress
• Jennette McCurdyb. 1992USnot in their usual nameAmerican writer and former actress (born 1992)

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).

Evidence●

Register rows as of the 2026-09-12 data build · 630 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Faye?

We estimate roughly 41 thousand people bear Faye (counting its spellings and scripts) across 9 countries in our records.

In which country does Faye have the most bearers?

Faye is most frequently recorded in the United Kingdom, where it is most often spelled faye.

How common is Faye compared with other names?

In the United Kingdom, Faye is the 409th most common given name of 369,273 given names recorded there.

Is Faye a male or female name?

Faye is recorded for both men and women. We don't publish a percentage split: a record's gender belongs to the person and is attached to every given name on that record, so names in cultures where a name string also carries a parent's or spouse's given name pick up large cross-gender counts.

What does the name Faye mean?

Recorded meaning: from Irish Gaelic Ó Fathaigh ‘descendant of Fathach’, a personal name probably based on Gaelic fothadh ‘foundation’