This interesting surname has two origins. Firstly, it may be of English origin, being either a topographical name for someone who lived by a wood deriving from the Old French "bois" meaning "wood" or a patronymic from the Middle English nickname "boy" meaning "lad" or "Servant", or in some cases it may derive from an Old English pre 7th Century personal name Boia. Secondly, it may be of Irish origin being an Anglicized form of the Gaelic O' Buadhaigh, the prefix "O" meaning "grandson of" or "descendant of", plus Buadhach, a personal name meaning "Victorious". The name dates back to the early 13th Century (see below). Further recordings include Thomas Boys (1296), "The Subsidy Rolls of Sussex", and Robert du Boys (1327), "The Subsidy Rolls of Suffolk". Variations in the idiom of the spelling include Boys, Boyse, Boice, Boyce, etc.. Judith, daughter of Peter Boyes, was christened at St. Ann's, Blackfriars, London on April 14th 1573. One John Frederick Boyes (1811 - 1879) was a classical scholar who studied at Merchants Taylors School and St. John's College, Oxford, receiving an M.A.. He published works relating to classical and English poetry. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Nicholas del Bois, which was dated 1201, in the "The Pipe Rolls of Lincolnshire", during the reign of King John, known as "Lackland", 1199 - 1216. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.

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