Boyd (surname) explained
Boyd is an ancient Scottish surname.[1]
The name is attached to Simon, one of several brothers and children of Alan, son of Flathald. Simon's son Robert was called Boyt or Boyd from the Celtic term boidhe, meaning fair or yellow. Robert the Bruce granted lands to Sir Robert Boyd as the ancestor of the earls of Kilmarnock. The Scottish peerage of the earls of Kilmarnock ends shortly after William Boyd rebelled in the Battle of Culloden in 1746. William was arrested and executed at the Tower of London in 1746. He left a widow and three sons including James, Lord Boyd who married and succeeded his father as the Earl of Errol, taking his mother's title.[2]
Another theory is of territorial origins which may have been taken from the Bhoid, the Gaelic term for the island of Bute,[3] in the Firth of Clyde. The surname was common in Edinburgh in the 17th century. The Scottish Gaelic form of the surname is Boid (masculine), and Bhoid (feminine).
A
- Adam Boyd (born 1982), English footballer
- Adele Boyd (1932–2018), American field hockey player
- Alan Lennox-Boyd, 1st Viscount Boyd of Merton, British politician
- Alan Stephenson Boyd, American politician
- Alex Boyd (photographer), Scottish photographer
- Alexander Boyd, 3rd Lord Boyd (died after 1508), Scottish noble
- Alfred Boyd, Canadian politician
- Alice Boyd, Scottish artist
- Allen Boyd, American politician
- Andrew Kennedy Hutchison Boyd (1825–1899), Scottish writer
- Anne Boyd, Australian composer
- Archibald Boyd, English cleric
- Archibald Boyd-Carpenter, British politician
- Archie Boyd (footballer), Scottish footballer
- Arnold Boyd, British ornithologist
- Arthur Boyd (Arthur Merric Bloomfield Boyd), Australian painter
- Arthur Merric Boyd, Australian painter
- Augusto Samuel Boyd, President of Panama
B
C
D
E
F
- Federico Boyd, President of Panama
- Frances Boyd Calhoun (1867–1909) American author
- Frank L. Boyd (1881–1962), American labor organizer
- Francine "Fran" Boyd, a drug addict featured in The Corner; the sister of Bunchie, Sharry, and Stevie Boyd
G
H
J
- James Boyd (disambiguation)
- James Boyd, 2nd Lord Boyd (c. 1469–1484), Scottish noble
- James Boyd, 9th Lord Boyd (died 1654), Scottish noble
- Jason Boyd, American record producer and songwriter known professionally as Poo Bear
- Jane Boyd, British artist
- Jenna Boyd, American actress
- Jenny Boyd, British model, sister of Pattie Boyd
- Jerry Boyd (1930–2002), American boxing trainer writing as F.X. Toole
- Jim Boyd (disambiguation)
- Joe Boyd, American record producer
- John Boyd (disambiguation)
- John Boyd Orr, 1st Baron Boyd-Orr, Scottish nutritionist and Nobel Peace Prize winner
- John Boyd-Carpenter, Baron Boyd-Carpenter, British politician
- Johnny Boyd, American racing driver
- Jonathan Boyd (1944–1999), Australian wrestler
- Joseph Boyd (disambiguation)
- Julian Boyd, American basketball player
- Justin Boyd (born 1989), Canadian water polo player
- Jason Boyd, British actor in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
- James Boyd, later James Hay, 15th Earl of Erroll (1726–1778), Scottish noble
K
L
M
- Mackenzie Boyd, fictional character from the British soap opera Emmerdale
- Malcolm Boyd (1923–2015), American Episcopal priest and author
- Margaret Boyd (1913–1993), English lacrosse player and schoolteacher
- Margot Boyd (1913–2008), British actor
- Mark Alexander Boyd (1563–1601), Scottish poet
- Mark Frederick Boyd (1889–1968), American malariologist and writer
- Marion Boyd (1946–2022), Canadian politician
- Martin Boyd (1893–1972), Australian architect and writer
- Mary D. R. Boyd (1809–?), American children's author
- Matthew Boyd (baseball), (born 1991), American baseball player
- Merle Kodo Boyd (1944–2022), American Zen Buddhist nun
- Merric Boyd (1888–1959) Australian artist
- Michele Boyd, American actress
- Mike Boyd (disambiguation)
- Milly Boyd, one of the Del Rubio triplets
N
O
P
R
- Rakeem Boyd (born 1998), American football player
- Rhea Boyd, American paediatrician
- Richard Boyd (1942–2021), American philosopher
- Richard Henry Boyd (R.H. Boyd, 1843–1922), African American minister and religious publisher
- Richard Boyd Barrett (born 1967), Irish politician
- Robbie Boyd, British singer/songwriter
- Robert Boyd (disambiguation)
- Robert Boyd, 1st Lord Boyd (d. 1482)
- Robert Boyd, 4th Lord Boyd (d. c.1557) (acceded Lordship 1547)
- Robert Boyd, 5th Lord Boyd (c.1517–1559) (acceded Lordship 1558)
- Robert Boyd, 7th Lord Boyd (1595–1628)
- Robert Boyd, 8th Lord Boyd (c.1618–1640)
- Robin Boyd (architect) (1919–1971), Australian architect, writer, teacher and social commentator
- Robin Boyd (theologian) (1924–2018), Irish theologian and missionary to India
- Russell Boyd (born 1944), Australian cinematographer
S
- Sam Boyd, American gambling entrepreneur
- Samuel S. Boyd (1807–1867), American enslaver
- Sarah Boyd-Carpenter (born 1946), now Sarah Hogg, Viscountess Hailsham, The Baroness Hogg, British economist, journalist, business executive and politician
- Sean Boyd, Australian water polo player
- Shannon Boyd (born 1992), Australian rugby league player
- Simon Lennox-Boyd, 2nd Viscount Boyd of Merton (born 1939), British peer
- Stephen Boyd, Irish actor
- Stephen P. Boyd, American professor and control theorist
- Stephen William Boyd, Irish professor
- Sean Boyd, British Businessman
T
V
W
Z
Notes and References
- Book: William Anderson. The Scottish Nation: Or the Surnames, Families, Literature, Honours, and Biographical History of the People of Scotland. 1867. Fullarton. 364.
- Book: The Peerage of England, Scotland, and Ireland: The peerage of Scotland. 1790. W. Owen (and 2 others). 222.
- Book: David Dobson. The Scottish Surnames of Colonial America. 2003. Genealogical Publishing Com. 978-0-8063-5209-1. 13.
