Corey

Corey is a surname-derived first name with more than one possible family history. One familiar explanation connects it with an Irish surname and a word for a hollow or cauldron-like landscape feature. Because surnames can develop independently in different places, “from the hollow” is best treated as an explanation of one route rather than a guaranteed meaning for every Corey.

Corey and Cory have both become established first-name spellings. Their sound is usually the same, while the extra e makes a visible distinction in writing. The name has been used for boys and girls, and its association with late twentieth-century American naming does not erase the older surname background from which it developed.