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Tracy (name)

Tracy (; also spelled Tracey, Traci, Tracci, Tracee, Treacy or Tracie, or Trasci), is an English given name and surname. As a British personal name, it was originally adopted from Norman surnames such as those of the family de Tracy or de Trasci from Tracy-Bocage in Normandy, France. Derived from the Gaulish male name Draccios, or Latin Thracius ("of Thrace, Thracian"), and the well-identified Celtic suffix ' ("place, property"), such Norman surnames themselves sprang from several Tracy place-names in France.

The Irish surname Tracey, which may similarly have contributed to the adoption of the English personal name, is derived from the native Irish O'Treasaigh septs. The name is taken from the Irish word "treasach" meaning "war-like" or "fighter". It is also translated as "higher", "more powerful" or "superior". It may also be derived from the Irish word for three, with an association to the Tuatha Dé Danann. The first reference to the surname in the Irish annals was in 1008: "Gussan, son of Ua Treassach, lord of Ui-Bairrche, died."

According to historian C. Thomas Cairney, the O'Tracys were one of the chiefly families of the Uí Bairrche who were a tribe of the Erainn who were the second wave of Celts to settle in Ireland between about 500 and 100 BC.

As a given name for girls, Tracy is a traditional English hypocorism for the name Teresa.

Cultural influences

Usage of the name for boys was popularized by Dick Tracy, a fictional police detective in the American comic strip Dick Tracy, which has been in syndication since 1931, and by the fame of American actor Spencer Tracy.

It was popularized as a name for girls by Tracy Lord, a beautiful heiress played by Katharine Hepburn in the 1940 American romantic comedy film The Philadelphia Story and by Grace Kelly in the 1956 American romantic comedy musical film High Society, a remake of the 1940 film. Usage in the United States might have been affected by Tracy Ann Boyle, the daughter of newspaper columnist Hal Boyle. Boyle wrote about his daughter from the time he adopted her in 1953 until the early 1970s and her photograph was occasionally published in newspapers nationwide. Tracy, a bubblegum pop song by American band The Cufflinks, was released in 1969 and was a hit song throughout the English-speaking world. The song likely also influenced the popularity of the name in 1970. Another influence was the character Tracy Bond, the doomed wife of British secret agent James Bond in the film On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, which was released in December 1969.

Given name

Australia

Tracy ranked among the 100 most popular names for girls in Australia between 1960 and 1981.

Canada

Tracy ranked among the 100 most popular names for Canadian girls between 1957 and 1984 and was among the ten most popular names for Canadian girls between 1969 and 1973.

France

Tracy was among the top 500 names for French girls between 1989 and 2003. It peaked in use in 1991, when it was ranked No. 169 on the French popularity chart.

Great Britain

In England and Wales, the name Tracy was not unknown but unusual, with about two a year from 1837 until 1955, after which the name quite suddenly became very popular, rising to a maximum of 7,667 girls being given that name in 1964. After 1970 the popularity quickly declined to 475 in 1985. It was among the top 100 names for girls in Scotland between 1964 and 1987. It peaked in popularity in 1970, when it was the 10th most popular name for Scottish girls.

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Ireland

Tracy was among the 100 most popular names for girls in Ireland between 1970 and 1988. It was most popular in 1971, when it was the 54th most popular names for Irish girls.

New Zealand

Tracy ranked among the 100 most popular names for girls in New Zealand between 1961 and 1985. It peaked in 1970, when it was the 11th most popular names for girls in New Zealand.

United States

Tracy, as a transferred use of the surname, has been in use as a masculine name in the United States since the 19th century. It was among the 1,000 most popular names for American boys between 1880 and 1999, was among the top 200 names for boys between 1959 and 1974, and was at the height of popularity as a male name between 1966 and 1967, when it ranked 98th on the U.S. popularity chart for boys.

The name Tracy has been in occasional use as an independent name since the 19th century for American girls and appeared sporadically among the 1,000 most popular names for American girls in the 1880s and 1890s. Tracy ranked among the 1,000 most popular given names for American girls between 1942 and 2004 and was among the top 100 names for American girls between 1960 and 1984. It peaked in 1970, when it was the 10th most popular name for American girls.

People

Surname

Tracy or Tracey

  • Adrian Tracy (born 1988), American football linebacker
  • Albert H. Tracy (1793–1859), US representative from New York
  • Alex Tracy (born 2001), American ice hockey player
  • Andrew Tracey (born 1936), South African ethnomusicologist
  • Benjamin F. Tracy (1830–1915), United States soldier and politician
  • Bob Tracy, former American football coach
  • C. Richard Tracy (born 1943), American ecologist
  • Chad Tracy (born 1980), American professional baseball third baseman
  • Chad Tracy (baseball, born 1985), American professional baseball first baseman
  • Clarissa Tracy (1818–1905), American botanist
  • Cole Tracy (born 1996), American football player
  • Craig Tracey (born 1974), British Conservative Party politician, Member of Parliament (MP) for North Warwickshire since 2015
  • Daniel Tracey (1794–1832), doctor, journalist and Canadian politician
  • Daniel Tracy (1843–1919), American farmer, businessman, and politician
  • David Tracy (1939–2025), American Catholic theologian and priest
  • Doreen Tracey (1943–2018), American actress and writer
  • Harriet Tracy (1834–1918), American inventor
  • Hugh Tracey (1903–1977), British ethnomusicologist
  • John Treacy (born 1957), Irish Olympian and former athlete
  • Keegan Connor Tracy (born 1971), Canadian actress and author
  • Lynne Tracy (born 1964) Ambassador of the United States
  • Marcus Tracy (born 1986), American soccer striker
  • Margaret Tracey (born 1967), American ballet dancer and educator
  • Michael Tracy (1958–2023), American graffiti artist, known professionally as Tracy 168
  • Minnie Tracey (1873/1874 – 1929, American high lyric soprano
  • Mona Tracy (1892–1959), New Zealand children's novelist, journalist, poet, short-story writer, and community worker
  • Olivia Tracey (born 1960), Irish actress, model and beauty pageant titleholder
  • Paul Tracy (born 1968), professional racing driver
  • Phineas L. Tracy (1786–1876), US representative from New York
  • Richard Tracy (died 1569), English Protestant reformer
  • Seán Treacy (1895–1920) Irish revolutionary
  • Sheila Tracy (1934–2014), British broadcaster, writer, musician, and singer
  • Spencer Tracy (1900–1967), American actor
  • Stan Tracey (1926–2013), British jazz pianist
  • Tyrone Tracy Jr. (born 1999), American football player
  • Uriah Tracy (1755–1807), US representative and senator from Connecticut
  • William Tracy (1917–1967), American actor
  • William Tracey (1876–1945), English footballer

Trasci

Unrelated (pronounced "trashee")

De Tracy

Given name

Women

Tracey
Traci
Tracie
Tracy

Men

Tracey
Tracy

Fictional characters

See also

References

External links