. Written interchangeably in records as:
Roi,
Roy,
Le Roi, and
Le Roy, the surname De Roy originated from the
Normans, the descendants of Norse
Vikings who settled in
Amigny, a commune in
Manche,
Normandy. It derived from the
Old French roy,
roi (), meaning "king", or "the king" which was a
byname used before the
Norman Conquest and a personal name in the
Middle Ages. The Normans, or "Northmen", after having settled in their new lands in Northern France, quickly adopted the Old French dialects of the region and would later take their language and naming practices with them to England. Norman usage of the spelling variant Roy in written text dates back to the 12th-century Norman poet
Wace in
Roman de Rou, where he used both the "rei" & "roy" forms for the title of "king". Wace wrote in
vernacular Old Norman (also known as
Old Northern French), which is among the few records of Old Norman that remain. The Roy family is also recorded in the 12th century amongst the other family surnames of the city of
Caen in Normandy. ) Originally, Roy may have been a regal name, either from "kingly" bearing, a position of authority, a tournament winner, or one who was in the service of the king. This reflects Norman adaptation of social or martial identifiers — a cultural inheritance from their Viking ancestry, eventually forming a family name that would be passed down.
Middle Ages Earliest references cite
Guillaume de Roy (William of Roy), who was a
knight of the
Knights Templar and one of several knights,
abbots and feudal lords (
seigneur) of the Roy family in France and Switzerland. While born
Guillaume Le Roy, the usage of de Roy ("of Roy"), a
nobiliary particle, signified hereditary
nobility. Medieval court scribes consistently translated vernacular names into
Latin. Guillaume de Roy is recorded as
Guillelmus de Roy, Templar of the
Diocese of Soissons, by the scribes during the
Trials of the Knights Templar. == People with the given name ==