From the ancient city of Troy or from Irish 'troightheach' meaning foot soldier.
Troy is one of those names that arrives already carrying a story. It comes directly from the ancient city of Troy, the legendary setting of the Trojan War immortalized in Greek epic, especially the Iliad. The place-name entered English through classical tradition, and as a given name it carries the weight of myth, heroism, siege, and lost grandeur.
Unlike many names whose roots are hidden in old linguistic fragments, Troy is immediately recognizable as historical and literary. It is a short name, but behind it stand Achilles, Hector, Helen, Priam, and centuries of retelling. As a personal name, Troy became especially popular in the English-speaking world in the twentieth century, particularly in the United States, where it fit the taste for strong, clean, one-syllable boys' names.
Famous bearers include actor Troy Donahue and football star Troy Aikman, whose visibility helped make the name feel confident and athletic. Over time, Troy has evolved from a rare classical reference into a broadly accessible modern name, less antique than Hector or Ulysses and less formal than many mythic choices. It often suggests toughness and straightforward masculinity, but its classical background gives it more cultural depth than first appears. In literature and popular culture, the name keeps summoning the image of a fallen city and immortal legend, so even in everyday use it retains a faint bronze-age glow.