Folly Surname
Approximately 23,943 people bear this surname
Folly Surname Definition:
(Anglo-French-Latin) 1 Silly, Playful, &c. [Anglo-Frenchfoly: v. under Follet(t] So that alwey in honeste Fro foly love they kepe [t]hem clere.— Chaucer, Rom. of the Rose, 5084-5.
2 Dweller at a Folly (grotesque structure); or a Country Cottage or House [French folie: etymology as above] Roger de la Folye.
Read More About This SurnameFolly Surname Distribution Map
| Place | Incidence | Frequency | Rank in Area |
|---|---|---|---|
| Togo | 17,115 | 1:423 | 17 |
| Benin | 2,431 | 1:4,252 | 554 |
| Brazil | 984 | 1:217,555 | 8,407 |
| Ghana | 970 | 1:27,856 | 3,309 |
| France | 525 | 1:126,519 | 19,275 |
| Switzerland | 445 | 1:18,456 | 3,025 |
| Malawi | 288 | 1:59,441 | 8,056 |
| Nigeria | 287 | 1:617,222 | 29,344 |
| United States | 145 | 1:2,499,717 | 152,655 |
| England | 136 | 1:409,692 | 28,019 |
| Egypt | 122 | 1:753,572 | 38,342 |
| Liberia | 98 | 1:44,985 | 4,075 |
| Ivory Coast | 63 | 1:366,210 | 12,917 |
| South Africa | 61 | 1:888,159 | 57,770 |
| Germany | 49 | 1:1,642,969 | 96,430 |
| Austria | 46 | 1:185,118 | 23,639 |
| Hungary | 39 | 1:251,699 | 20,039 |
| Niger | 21 | 1:913,906 | 20,544 |
| Papua New Guinea | 16 | 1:509,607 | 63,542 |
| Canada | 15 | 1:2,456,373 | 146,130 |
| Gabon | 9 | 1:209,910 | 2,378 |
| Belgium | 8 | 1:1,437,080 | 92,692 |
| Wales | 7 | 1:442,076 | 21,198 |
| Senegal | 7 | 1:2,082,763 | 4,662 |
| New Zealand | 4 | 1:1,132,081 | 47,619 |
| Norway | 4 | 1:1,285,572 | 69,185 |
| Australia | 4 | 1:6,748,925 | 181,100 |
| Italy | 4 | 1:15,289,172 | 132,955 |
| United Arab Emirates | 4 | 1:2,290,568 | 60,372 |
| Burkina Faso | 3 | 1:6,117,367 | 22,156 |
| Luxembourg | 2 | 1:290,271 | 8,611 |
| Cameroon | 2 | 1:10,384,534 | 165,830 |
| China | 2 | 1:683,660,783 | 30,601 |
| Scotland | 2 | 1:2,676,908 | 51,579 |
| Thailand | 1 | 1:70,638,345 | 1,175,915 |
| Sweden | 1 | 1:9,846,757 | 347,448 |
| Sri Lanka | 1 | 1:20,808,560 | 18,521 |
| Turkey | 1 | 1:77,821,422 | 191,047 |
| Spain | 1 | 1:46,752,036 | 156,870 |
| Netherlands | 1 | 1:16,887,176 | 156,465 |
| Kenya | 1 | 1:46,179,900 | 103,372 |
| Chile | 1 | 1:17,616,474 | 93,597 |
| Equatorial Guinea | 1 | 1:1,135,674 | 984 |
| Fiji | 1 | 1:894,391 | 4,568 |
| Finland | 1 | 1:5,496,702 | 84,025 |
| Guernsey | 1 | 1:64,439 | 2,137 |
| Guinea | 1 | 1:11,833,817 | 3,268 |
| Hong Kong | 1 | 1:7,335,483 | 16,643 |
| Indonesia | 1 | 1:132,249,194 | 811,426 |
| Iran | 1 | 1:76,782,524 | 277,718 |
| Portugal | 1 | 1:10,418,241 | 25,048 |
| Mali | 1 | 1:16,969,035 | 4,067 |
| Mexico | 1 | 1:124,126,205 | 103,776 |
| Morocco | 1 | 1:34,476,099 | 111,471 |
| Cape Verde | 1 | 1:529,642 | 6,792 |
| Botswana | 1 | 1:2,186,929 | 30,250 |
| Pakistan | 1 | 1:178,643,885 | 213,220 |
| Philippines | 1 | 1:101,238,223 | 404,861 |
| Poland | 1 | 1:38,008,749 | 231,653 |
| Place | Incidence | Frequency | Rank in Area |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ireland | 10 | 1:442,987 | 15,290 |
| Place | Incidence | Frequency | Rank in Area |
|---|---|---|---|
| England | 155 | 1:157,260 | 13,677 |
| Scotland | 32 | 1:116,976 | 5,458 |
| Wales | 9 | 1:174,268 | 6,522 |
| Place | Incidence | Frequency | Rank in Area |
|---|---|---|---|
| United States | 186 | 1:269,993 | 21,996 |
Folly (21,469) may also be a first name.
Folly Surname Meaning
From Where Does The Surname Originate? meaning and history
(Anglo-French-Latin) 1 Silly, Playful, &c. [Anglo-Frenchfoly: v. under Follet(t] So that alwey in honeste Fro foly love they kepe [t]hem clere.— Chaucer, Rom. of the Rose, 5084-5.
2 Dweller at a Folly (grotesque structure); or a Country Cottage or House [French folie: etymology as above] Roger de la Folye.—Hand. Rolls. Delafollie.—Paris Directory.
There is a La Folie in Calvados, Normandy.
There has perhaps been some confusion with Foley, q.v.
"Any ridiculous building, not answering its intended purpose." Halliwell. Most counties have many spots so called; but I do not find Mr. Halliwell's definition always correct. I should prefer calling a "folly," a temporary or fragile building, and that seems to have been the sense of the Norman-French foillie. In the Roman de Rou of Master Wace, line 12,136 we read —
Doubtless the same as Foley; from the local name Foley, anciently Fowleigh.
Folly Demographics
Folly Political Affiliation
in United States
United States
Average
Folly Last Name Facts
Where Does The Last Name Folly Come From? nationality or country of origin
The surname Folly (Hassaniya-Arabic: ﻓﻠﻲ) is found in Togo more than any other country or territory. It can also be rendered in the variant forms:. For other possible spellings of this name click here.
How Common Is The Last Name Folly? popularity and diffusion
It is the 22,688th most frequently used last name on a global scale. It is borne by approximately 1 in 304,371 people. This last name occurs mostly in Africa, where 90 percent of Folly live; 88 percent live in West Africa and 87 percent live in Atlantic-Niger Africa. It is also the 35,858th most frequent first name globally, borne by 21,469 people.
The surname Folly is most frequently occurring in Togo, where it is held by 17,115 people, or 1 in 423. Apart from Togo this surname occurs in 58 countries. It also occurs in Benin, where 10 percent are found and Brazil, where 4 percent are found.
Folly Family Population Trend historical fluctuation
The frequency of Folly has changed over time. In The United States the share of the population with the surname decreased 22 percent between 1880 and 2014; in England it decreased 12 percent between 1881 and 2014; in Wales it decreased 22 percent between 1881 and 2014 and in Scotland it decreased 94 percent between 1881 and 2014.
Folly Last Name Statistics demography
The religious devotion of those bearing the surname is principally Catholic (90%) in Ireland.
In The United States those bearing the Folly last name are 1.51% more likely to be registered with the Democratic Party than The US average, with 51.72% registered to vote for the political party.
The amount Folly earn in different countries varies significantly. In South Africa they earn 8.07% less than the national average, earning R 218,472 per year; in United States they earn 20.94% less than the national average, earning $34,114 USD per year and in Canada they earn 36.07% less than the national average, earning $31,762 CAD per year.
Phonetically Similar Names
Folly Name Transliterations
| Transliteration | ICU Latin | Percentage of Incidence |
|---|---|---|
| Folly in the Hassaniya-Arabic language | ||
| ﻓﻠﻲ | fly | - |
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Footnotes
- Surnames are taken as the first part of an person's inherited family name, caste, clan name or in some cases patronymic
- Descriptions may contain details on the name's etymology, origin, ethnicity and history. They are largely reproduced from 3rd party sources; diligence is advised on accepting their validity - more information
- Name distribution statistics are generated from a global database of over 4 billion people - more information
- Heatmap: Dark red means there is a higher occurrence of the name, transitioning to light yellow signifies a progressively lower occurrence. Clicking on selected countries will show mapping at a regional level
- Rank: Name are ranked by incidence using the ordinal ranking method; the name that occurs the most is assigned a rank of 1; name that occur less frequently receive an incremented rank; if two or more name occur the same number of times they are assigned the same rank and successive rank is incremented by the total preceeding names
- Ethnic group cannot necessarily be determined by geographic occurrence
- Similar: Names listed in the "Similar" section are phonetically similar and may not have any relation to Folly
- To find out more about this surname's family history, lookup records on FamilySearch, MyHeritage, FindMyPast and Ancestry. Further information may be obtained by DNA analysis