Leroi, or Leroy is both a given name and a family surname of Norman origin.
Origin
Normandy Written interchangeably in records as: Roi, Le Roi, De Roy, and Le Roy, the surname Leroi originated from the Normans, the descendants of Norse Vikings who settled in Amigny, a commune in Manche, Normandy in the 10th century.
Le Roi derived from the Old Northern French roi, roy (), meaning "king", or "the king", with the definite article le (royne for "queen"). It arose as a Norman byname before the Conquest and was passed on as a family name in the Middle Ages.
The Vikings, after having been given their new lands, adopted the Old French language of the northern regions of France and created the Duchy of Normandy. Their descendants, the Normans, took their language and naming practices with them to England, where a dialect of Old Norman called Anglo-Norman was formed.
Originally, Le Roi or Le Roy was a Norman regal name.. A man may have had 'kingly' bearing, held a position of authority, was a tournament victor, or it was given as a byname in direct service to the king. This reflects Norman adaptation of social or martial identifiers – a cultural inheritance from their Viking ancestry, forming a family name that was passed down..
As a given name Leroi Court (born 1963), Australian athlete Leroi Jones or Amiri Baraka (1934–2014), African-American writer LeRoi Moore (1961–2008), American saxophonist
As a surname Ali LeRoi (born 1962), American television producer, director, writer and actor Armand Marie Leroi (born 1964), New Zealand author, broadcaster, and professor of evolutionary developmental biology Gary LeRoi Gray (born 1987), American actor André Leroi-Gourhan (1911–1986), French archaeologist, paleontologist, paleoanthropologist, and anthropologist
See also Leroy (name) Roy
References