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 [ 2 syll. a-my, am-y ] The girl name Amy is pronounced EYMiy KEY. Amy's language of origin is Latin and it is predominantly used in English. Old forms of the name include Amata (Latin), Amee (Old French), and Amicia (Latin). The name is Anglicized from Amee, itelf originally a nickname of Amata. The latter could be from the Latin amatus ('beloved') and ultimately amare ('to love'), or it could be from a distinct pre-Roman source. In Roman mythology, the name was borne by the wife of King Latinus; her daughter Lavinia later became the wife of Aeneas. The name was also borne by Saint Amata, a 13th-century saint of Bologna. The name was adopted by English speakers in the 16th century. It was often bestowed by parents in expression of their love for the child. The name later saw a revival in the 19th century, which also saw the adoption of the French form Aimee by English speakers. In literature, the name is borne by the titular character Amy Dorrit in Charles Dickens' novel Little Dorrit (1855-1857) and by one of four sisters, Amy March, in Louisa May Alcott's novel Little Women (1868,1869). Amy is the feminine form of the English Amyas. Amy has 22 forms that are used in both English and foreign languages. English forms of Amy include Aimee, Aimi, Amalia (used in German, Scandinavian, Czech, Hungarian, and Italian too), Amaliya (used in Russian too), Ame, Ami, Amiee, Ammie, Amye, Aymi, and Ema (used in Romanian, Czech, Spanish, Portuguese, and Slavic too). Other English forms include the spelling variants Aimie, Aimy, and Amie. Forms of the name used in foreign languages include the French Aimeé, the French Aimé, the French Aimée, the Spanish Amada, the Italian Amadea, the Spanish, German, and Scandinavian Amata, the German and French Amelie, and the French Aymé. See also the related form, the Welsh and English Ceri. Amy is a popular baby girl name. The name increased in popularity from the 1930s up to the 1970s. At the peak of its usage in 1975, 2.067% of baby girls were named Amy. It was #2 in rank then. The baby name has suffered a steep decline in frequency since then. In 2008, it ranked at #132 with a usage of only 0.122%, but it was nevertheless the most popular out of all girl names in its family. Amy was used 7 times more than the 2nd most popular name, the English Aimee, in 2008. The name Amy has been primarily given to girls, although it has also been used as a boy name in the last century. In 1977, 378 times more girls than boys were given the name Amy. Baby names that sound like Amy include the English Aimee, the French Aimeé, the French Aimée, the English Aimi, the English Aimie, the English Aimy, the English Aymi, the Finnish, Scandinavian, and Catalan Aina, the Finnish Aino, the Vietnamese Am, the Latvian, Lithuanian, and Russian Anya, the Hebrew and Yiddish Cheyna, the Irish and Scottish Eithne, the English Emi, the English Emie, the Turkish Emine, the English, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, and Italian Emma, the English and German Emmi, the English Emmie, and the Dutch and English Emmy. Details of famous persons named Amy: KEY: Pronunciation for Amy: EY as in "ate (EY.T)" ; M as in "me (M.IY)" ; IY as in "eat (IY.T)"   |
