Toy (surname)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- English: Toye
- Chinese: Toi, Toye
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Toy is a Chinese, English, and Turkish surname.
As an English surname, Toy originated in two or three different ways. First, it was a nickname, either from Middle English toy "trifling thing; play, sport", or from Middle French toie "sheath". Second, it was a relational name, from the given name Toye (whose origin is not clear). Finally, it may have been a toponymic surname referring to a former settlement probably located in the East Riding of Yorkshire. Early records of the English surname Toy include a Robert Toy of Gainford in the patent rolls for 1339.[1]
As a Chinese surname, Toy is a spelling, based on the pronunciation in different varieties of Chinese, of the following Chinese surnames, listed by their spelling in Hanyu Pinyin, which reflects the Standard Mandarin pronunciation:
- Cài (蔡), spelled Toy based on its Taishanese pronunciation.[2] This is a toponymic surname referring to the state of Cai, adopted as a surname by some people of the state after its conquest by the state of Chu during China's Warring States period.[3]
- Tái (邰), spelled Toy based on its mainstream Cantonese pronunciation (Jyutping: Toi4; Cantonese Yale: Tòih).[4] According to the Shuowen Jiezi, the surname Tái originated as a toponymic surname referring to the city by the same name in modern-day Shaanxi.[5]
Toy is also a Turkish surname, from toy "bustard".[6]
