Savoy
A rare surname most likely taken from the historic region of Savoy in the western Alps.
The #4,638 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 40,364 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Savoy is a locational surname from the old region of Savoy, in the Alpine area between France, Switzerland, and Italy. In surname use, it would originally have identified someone who came from that place or was associated with it. The place-name itself is ancient, though the surname sense is straightforwardly geographic rather than descriptive.
History
The name is best understood as a place-based byname that later became hereditary. The excerpts suggest that English writers noticed it mainly as a regional name, and that the prestige of figures such as Boniface of Savoy may have helped make the name familiar in England. In modern use, Savoy remains uncommon as a surname.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Savoy is one of those surnames that literally preserves the name of a medieval region, so it can point back to a person’s place of origin rather than an occupation or nickname.
From the historical record
“Comhill. ^ .61. Boniface of Savoy, archbishop of Canterbury (d. 1970), would give an English impetus to this name, just at the time when surnames were becoming hereditary'”
— A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames, with special American instances