Remy

About Remy

Remy is the unaccented English form of French Rémy, descended from Latin Remigius and a word meaning “oarsman” or “rower.” It is used for both boys and girls in modern American naming. The chef-loving rat in Ratatouille and artist Remy Charlip give the spelling distinctive connections with animation, dance, and children's books.

Meaning and early history

French Rémy developed from Remigius, a Latin personal name connected with remigis, “oarsman” or “rower.” The older meaning places the name within the world of boats and rowing.

Saint Rémy was a bishop who converted and baptized Clovis, king of the Franks. That religious association helped give the French name a long history beyond the older occupational meaning.

Rémi is another French spelling. Italian and Spanish use Remigio, while Polish has Remigiusz. Remy and Remi are both found without accents in English.

French Rémy has two syllables, approximately ray-MEE. The accented é indicates the opening vowel; its removal in English Remy changes the written form without creating a different ancient origin.

Remy in Ratatouille

Pixar's 2007 film Ratatouille gives Remy to a rat who dreams of becoming a great chef. His extraordinary sense of smell and interest in combining flavors separate him from the rest of his family.

In Paris he finds himself beneath the restaurant of his culinary hero, Auguste Gusteau. His partnership with the inexperienced kitchen worker Linguini allows him to cook while trying to keep his presence hidden.

Remy's father sees human kitchens as dangerous places for rats, so the character's ambition also creates a conflict within his family. The film makes his short name part of a story about skill, collaboration, and pursuing an unlikely vocation.

Remy Charlip

Remy Charlip was a dancer, choreographer, theater designer, and children's author and illustrator. He was a founding member of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company in 1953.

His picture book Fortunately, first published in 1964, follows Ned on a journey to a surprise party. Good luck and bad luck alternate as each apparent rescue brings a new complication.

The book's shifts between fortunate and unfortunate events turn a simple journey into an imaginative chain of narrow escapes. Charlip's own illustrations are part of that storytelling.

His career gives Remy an association with making pictures and movement as well as with fiction on screen. The exact spelling appears in both a major dance company's early history and the byline of a much-loved picture book.

American popularity

Remy has grown in the United States for both sexes. The largest annual male total came in 2022, with 924 boys and a rank of 356th. The female count peaked in 2020 at 617 girls, ranking 496th.

In 2025, 781 boys and 390 girls received the name, ranking 408th and 721st respectively. Both totals were considerably higher than the 2000 counts of seventy-one boys and eighty-eight girls.

How popular is Remy?

In 2025, Remy ranked #408 among boys in the United States, with 781 recorded uses. The U.S. birth records first list this spelling for boys in 1914; its largest annual count was 924 in 2022. Rankings count each spelling separately. They describe national use, so local familiarity can differ. The popularity chart shows whether the name has remained common, returned after a quieter period, or risen recently.