Loy

Family name origins & meanings

• German (south and Rhineland) and Dutch : from a reduced form of the medieval personal name Eloy (Latin Eligius, a derivative of eligere ‘to choose or elect’), popularized a 6th-century saint who came to be venerated as the patron of smiths and horses.
• German : habitational name from Loy in Oldenburg.
• Dutch : variant of Lowy.
• Italian (Sardinian) : from the personal name Loi, a short form of Balloi, a pet form of Salvatóre.
• Spanish and Italian : possibly from a reduced form of the personal name Eloy (see 1 above), of which the Italian form is Eligio.
• French (Picardy) : nickname for someone who was quick to have recourse to the law: a frequent or vexatious litigant, or perhaps a metonymic occupational name for a lawyer.