Explore the Family Name Poy

The meaning of Poy

1. Chinese: possibly from Taishanese form of the Chinese names 培 (meaning ‘cultivate’) or 沛 (meaning ‘abundant’), which were monosyllabic personal names or part of disyllabic personal names of some early Chinese immigrants in the US. 2. Galician: habitational name from a place called Poi in A Coruña province, Galicia (Spain), from the Latin personal name Paulus (see Paul). 3. Catalan: variant of Poll.

Dictionary of American Family Names, 2nd edition, © Oxford University Press, 2022.

How common is the last name Poy in the United States?

Based on the Decennial U.S. Census data, the surname Poy was ranked 65,492 in popularity in 2000 and fell slightly to a rank of 65,593 in 2010, showing a mild decrease of 0.15%. However, the number of people with the surname Poy increased over this decade from 283 to 302, which is a growth rate of 6.71%. The proportion per 100k remained constant at 0.1 during both years.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#65,492	#65,593	-0.15%
Count	283	302	6.71%
Proportion per 100k	0.1	0.1	0%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Poy

In terms of ethnic identity, the Decennial U.S. Census data reveals that the majority of individuals with the surname Poy identified as Asian/Pacific Islander, increasing from 50.88% in 2000 to 55.96% in 2010. The next largest group identified as Hispanic, rising from 20.85% to 24.17% over the same period. The number of those identifying as White decreased notably from 21.55% to 13.58%, while the percentage of those identifying with two or more races appeared for the first time in 2010 at 4.3%. The percentage of Black individuals was registered at 3.18% in 2000 but was suppressed in 2010 for privacy reasons. No individuals identified as American Indian and Alaskan Native in either year.

	2000	2010	Change
Asian/Pacific Islander	50.88%	55.96%	9.98%
Hispanic	20.85%	24.17%	15.92%
White	21.55%	13.58%	-36.98%
Two or More Races	0%	4.3%	0%
Black	3.18%	0%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0%	0%	0%