Loyal is an English word name that goes back through Old French loial to the Latin legalis and means "faithful" or "true". It belongs to the newer wave of virtue names for boys, alongside Legend, Royal and Sincere, and was already given occasionally a century ago. In the United States Loyal jumped from number 2030 in 2015 into the top 1000 in 2021, peaked at number 700 in 2022 and ranks number 983 in 2025.