Faye?

[Nell96]

Opinions on the name Faye (or Fay)? It's just popped into my head. It feels quite underused, but simple and pretty - perhaps I'm missing something?

I found the meaning online:

"English : nickname for a person believed to have supernatural qualities, from Middle English, Old French faie 'fairy' (Late Latin fata 'fate', 'destiny'). English : nickname for a trustworthy person, from Middle English, Old French fei 'loyalty', 'trust'."

The 'supernatural' bit (which I wouldn't like), is actually 'fey' I think.

Quite a pretty name. The loyal and trustworthy meanings are nice.

I love it. Means fairy. I agree simple and underused but widely known and very pretty

Bit biased here but I’ve always been happy with it as my name. I like the meaning and there has never been more than one of us in a class or office etc. Got to have the ‘e’ though!! My parents saw a movie with Faye Dunaway when my mum was pregnant and that’s how they chose it. No need for other posters to hold back if they hate it though, I won’t be offended.

Lovely - I like the meaning and it's simple, pretty and not overused. Only possible problem is spelling issues (Fay, Faye or even Fae), but the similar May suffers from the same problem and it doesn't stop it from being one of my fave first names, so I'd go for it!

Thanks everyone - a lot more positive than I was expecting. I also like the spelling 'Fae' - too much? Seems quite magical to me.

Actually, maybe not - I think 'Faye' is probably the nicest spelling

I can see the attraction of Fae but I think that would require a lifetime of spelling. With Faye it’s about 50/50 whether people assume it’s Fay or Faye. I’ve never found it an onerous name to have from a spelling point of view.

I think Faye is a lovely name and very underused

as usual i'm swimming against the tide.
i don't like it, mainly because of the adjective, fey, which is pronounced the same.
so to me it's a bit like, when at a training event, twice, women have come up to me and announced, hi, i'm gaye. on another occasion, hi i'm randy. well we've all got problems, i thought.
then i realised the american accent probably meant it was her name rather than a disturbed state of arousal.
the gaye one was done i think deliberately to be intimidating.
after all, she could have said, hello my name's gaye.
so i have an aversion to these double-ententre names.

Love faye 💖

I like it. I'd assume it was Faye if I heard it. I think that's the nicest spelling too.

Love it.

@Nell96

Thanks everyone - a lot more positive than I was expecting. I also like the spelling 'Fae' - too much? Seems quite magical to me.

‘Fae’ means ‘from’ in Scots. I think Faye is the nicest spelling.

@alexdgr8

as usual i'm swimming against the tide. i don't like it, mainly because of the adjective, fey, which is pronounced the same. so to me it's a bit like, when at a training event, twice, women have come up to me and announced, hi, i'm gaye. on another occasion, hi i'm randy. well we've all got problems, i thought. then i realised the american accent probably meant it was her name rather than a disturbed state of arousal. the gaye one was done i think deliberately to be intimidating. after all, she could have said, hello my name's gaye. so i have an aversion to these double-ententre names.

I think it's an interesting viewpoint. I don't think it's something which would put me off though. I'd say that 'fey' isn't a particularly common adjective, whereas 'gay' is, and 'randy' is also pretty well known. The name Faye isn't popular (around 300s I think), but it's a recognized name, whereas if you look at the stats, hardly anyone is called Gay(e) or Randy, at least not in the UK.

Faye is a really lovely name. Really underused

I don't imagine that Gaye and Randy intended to have 'double entendre' names. Nor am I sure that Gaye would be intimidating as opposed to just Introducing herself. Bit of a leap there.

Very sweet.. Would spell it Faye.

I love Faye

I like Fay but Fae is awful. The Faye spelling seems more popular but I prefer it without the e.

Nice

@MikeUniformMike

I like Fay but Fae is awful. The Faye spelling seems more popular but I prefer it without the e.

Yeah, I like Fay too, I just wonder whether it looks a bit unfinished, like the e at the end gives it a bit more balance, a bit like Ann / Anne. Also, DD1 is called Nia, so wonder whether having two 3 letter names might look a bit odd. Miraculously my DH likes the name, which is unusual as he usually hates my suggestions!

The e on the end is a recent thing. A friend has an adult DD Fay, and the She-Devil author is Fay so it looks odd with the e. Is there a famous Faye that might have started the trend?

I see Ann and Anne as different names. I prefer Ann. Same goes for Jane/Jayne, Annabel/Annabelle, Fern/Fearne, etc

@MikeUniformMike

The e on the end is a recent thing. A friend has an adult DD Fay, and the She-Devil author is Fay so it looks odd with the e. Is there a famous Faye that might have started the trend?

I see Ann and Anne as different names. I prefer Ann. Same goes for Jane/Jayne, Annabel/Annabelle, Fern/Fearne, etc

Generally I also prefer simpler spellings (Fern, Annabel, Isabel etc.), so I'm not sure why I'm leaning towards Faye over Fay... There's an interesting article below. Apparently Fay was the more common spelling until the 1970s, when Faye overtook it, possibly influenced by the actress Faye Dunaway - www.britishbabynames.com/blog/2013/11/faye.html

Thanks OP, I forgot about Faye Dunaway. Mia and Ava, and others are actress names too.

I really like the name Faye, and it would be the middle name of a little girl, were I to have one.