// Workers AI · dad joke modeWhy was Leroi's cat so royal? Purr-oi.
| Gender | Male |
|---|---|
| Origin | |
| Word/name | Old Norman Old French |
| Meaning | The King |
| Other names | |
| Alternative spelling | Leroy |
| Variant forms | Roy, Deroy |
Leroi, or Leroy is both a given name and a family surname of Norman origin.
Origin
[edit]
A furore Normannorum, libera nos, Domine!
THE KING OF AMIGNY ... It is therefore to the seventh century that we would have to go back and delve into the furious hordes of those indomitable Norsemen, whose origins we have just outlined, to find there, in France, the mother stock of those LE ROYs we are discussing ...
— Du Cluzel de Remaurin, Knight
Normandy
[edit]Written interchangeably in records as: Roi, Le Roi, De Roy, and Le Roy, the surname Leroi originated from the Normans, the descendants of Norse Vikings who settled in Amigny, a commune in Manche, Normandy in the 10th century.[1][2][3]
Le Roi derived from the Old Northern French roi, roy (Old French pronunciation: [rɔi̯]), meaning "king", or "the king", with the definite article le (royne for "queen").[4][5] It arose as a Norman byname before the Conquest and was passed on as a family name in the Middle Ages.[6]
The Vikings, after having been given their new lands, adopted the Old French language of the northern regions of France and created the Duchy of Normandy. Their descendants, the Normans, took their language and naming practices with them to England, where a dialect of Old Norman called Anglo-Norman was formed.[7]
Originally, Le Roi or Le Roy was a Norman regal name.[8] A man may have had 'kingly' bearing, held a position of authority, was a tournament victor, or it was given as a byname in direct service to the king.[9] This reflects Norman adaptation of social or martial identifiers – a cultural inheritance from their Viking ancestry, forming a family name that was passed down.[10][11]
As a given name
[edit]- Leroi Court (born 1963), Australian athlete
- Leroi Jones or Amiri Baraka (1934–2014), African-American writer
- LeRoi Moore (1961–2008), American saxophonist
As a surname
[edit]- Ali LeRoi (born 1962), American television producer, director, writer and actor
- Armand Marie Leroi (born 1964), New Zealand author, broadcaster, and professor of evolutionary developmental biology
- Gary LeRoi Gray (born 1987), American actor
- André Leroi-Gourhan (1911–1986), French archaeologist, paleontologist, paleoanthropologist, and anthropologist
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ↑ Du Cluzel de Remaurin, Chevalier (1863). "Généalogie de la noble et ancienne maison des Le Roy". Bibliothèque nationale de France, département Philosophie, histoire, sciences de l'homme. Archived from the original on 30 May 2023. Retrieved 30 May 2023.
Ecrit indifféremment dans quelques actes: Roi, Le Roi, De Roy et Le Roy... D'origine normande, la noble maison des LE ROY, divisée en quatre principales branches, dont nous donnons ici la généalogie, remonte à la plus haute antiquité, c'est-à-dire à ces fiers enfants du Nord (Nortmans) qui, du fond de la Norwège, sous la conduite des Hadding, des Gerlon, des Héric et autres chefs non moins inhumains et farouches, inondèrent la Gaule au septième siècle... GUILLAUME LE ROY, – alias DE ROY, – écuyer, chevalier du Temple... D'origine chevaleresque, la maison des LE ROY a donné à l'armée une longue série d'officiers distingués de tous grades... elle a eu deux chevaliers de l'ordre du Roi et plusieurs chevaliers de l'ordre royal et militaire de Saint-Louis... les LE ROY ont été maintenus dans leur noblesse, en outre de l'arrêt de la Cour des aides de Normandie de 1494... et après avoir fourni par devant d'Hozier, juge d'armes de France, les preuves irréfragables de leur noblesse...
- ↑ Hanks, Patrick (2003). Dictionary of American Family Names. Vol. 1. Oxford University Press. p. xcvii. ISBN 0-19-508137-4.
Roy: English (of Norman origin): from Old French roi 'king' used as a nickname (see 3 below) and also as a personal name. French: from Old French rey roy 'king'. Compare Deroy and Leroy.
- ↑ "Norman". Encyclopædia Britannica. Archived from the original on 15 June 2015. Retrieved 22 July 2020.
Norman, member of those Vikings, or Norsemen, who settled in northern France ... The Normans (from Nortmanni: 'Northmen') were originally pagan barbarian pirates from Denmark, Norway, and Iceland.
- ↑ Historic Royal Palaces. "Matilda of Flanders". Retrieved 5 September 2026.
Matilda of Flanders was Queen of England and the wife of William I ('the Conqueror'), its first Norman king. Matilda's bloodline enabled William to pursue his claim to the English throne; she could trace her descent from the kings of France, the emperors of Germany and even the Anglo-Saxon dynasty... After remaining in Normandy as regent during the months immediately following the conquest, in 1068 Matilda set sail for her new kingdom. Her coronation – described as a 'very rich festival' – took place at Westminster Abbey on 11 May 1068. This was Whit Sunday, one of the most important dates in the Christian calendar... This was a pivotal moment both for the Norman dynasty and the English monarchy. Matilda was spoken of as 'la Royne' by the Normans, which implied that she was a female sovereign in her own right. Her decisive first move as a crowned queen would set the tone for the rest of her reign.
- ↑ Dauzat, Albert (1925). Les noms de personnes: origine et évolution. Prénoms. Noms de famille. Surnoms. Pseudonymes. Éditions Delagrave. p. 117.
La distinction la plus aisée, celle qui domine toutes les autres, est celle qui oppose les formes du nord à celles du midi, langue d'oïl à langue d'oc. Sachant, par exemple, que dans le midi p, c, t latins entre deux voyelles sont devenus b, g, d, tandis qu'ils aboutissent à v, y ou disparaissent au nord; que à, e toniques libres restent au sud, passent à e, oi (en principe) au nord; o tonique libre, là à eu, ici à ou, – ou pourra déjà classer un nombre appréciable de noms, comme Rube, Lèbre, Viguier, Sudour, Rey, Delprat, Laprade, Loubet, du Midi, en face de Rive Lièvre, Voyer, Sueur, Roy, Dupré, Louvet, qui appar-tiennent au nord.
- ↑ Anselme de Sainte-Marie (1733). "Histoire généalogique et chronologique de la maison royale de France, des pairs, grands officiers de la couronne & de la maison du Roy, & des anciens barons du royaume". Compagnie des Libraires, Paris. Retrieved 15 July 2023.
Genealogie De La Maison De Le Roy ... Guillaume le Roy III, du nom, seigneur de Chavigny, du Chillou ... Femme, Françoise de Fontenays ... 1. René le Roi, seigneur de Chavigny, qui fuit ... 2. Guyon le Roy, seigneur du Chillou & de Mondon ...
- ↑ Barber, Charles; Beal, Joan C.; Shaw, Philip A. (2009). The English Language: A Historical Introduction. Cambridge University Press. pp. 137–160. ISBN 0-521-85404-0.
During the later part of the Old English period, two different groups of non-English speakers invaded the country. Both groups were Scandinavian in origin, but whereas the first had retained its Scandinavian speech, the second had settled in northern France and become French-speaking. Both of their languages, Old Norse (ON) and Old French (OF), had a considerable influence on English.
- ↑ Hanks, Patrick; Coates, Richard; McClure, Peter (2016). The Oxford Dictionary of Family Names in Britain and Ireland. Vol. 3. Oxford University Press. p. 2287. ISBN 978-0-19-967776-4.
Roy : Norman, English, Huguenot: nickname, relationship name from Old French roi 'king', used as a nickname and also as a personal name ... surnames: Adam le Roy, 1268 in Feet of Fines (Suffolk); Simon Roy, 1273 in Hundred Rolls (Cambs).
. - ↑ "Leroy". Dictionary of American family names. Retrieved 22 May 2023.
French: from Old French rey, roy 'king' (from Latin rex, genitive regis) (see Roy.), with the definite article le. 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 ... King: The word was already used as a byname before the Norman Conquest, and the nickname was common in the Middle Ages ... French LEROY.
- ↑ Brylla, Eva (2016). The Oxford Handbook of Names and Naming. Vol. 1. Oxford University Press. pp. 237–250. ISBN 978-0-19-965643-1.
In medieval naming systems, bynames are secondary formations derived from existing words (nouns/adjectives) and serve to distinguish individuals by characteristics such as home district, birthplace, family function, physical traits, habits, or ways of expressing oneself. These formations are part of the anthroponomastic system and provide insight into social identification practices ... Eva Brylla was Docent (Senior Lecturer) in Scandinavian Languages at Uppsala University, specializing in name research. Her doctoral thesis was on the inflection of place‑names in Old Swedish, and she published extensively on both place‑names and personal names. She was formerly the Head of the Department of Names at the Institute of Language and Folklore Research in Uppsala.
. - ↑ "Medieval English Nicknames and Surnames". Problems of Onomastics. Archived from the original on 15 November 2025. Retrieved 3 March 2026.
... such nicknames [i.e., bynames] could be occupational, relational, locative, descriptive, or metaphoric, and were reflective of social roles and individual behavior or characteristics – putting on display a wide range of medieval social roles and attitudes.
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