Bee History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

The name is derived from the Old English word “beo,” which is modernized as “bee.” Accordingly, the name is a nickname for someone who was “busy as a bee.”

Early Origins of the Bee family

The surname Bee was first found in Oxfordshire where one of the first records of the name was Walter le Be who was listed there in 1195. A few years later Robert Be was listed in the Curia Regis Rolls of Yorkshire in 1198. William le Beo was listed in the Assize Rolls of Somerset in 1243. 1

Later, Alicia Bee was listed in the Yorkshire Poll Tax Rolls of 1379 and Thomas Bee was in 1447 listed in Northumberland and Durham. 2

By 1305 they had moved north, probably in the train of Earl David of Huntingdon, who became King David of Scotland, to Dundee, where they also held estates giving birth to the Scottish Bees. There they adopted the spelling of Bie and settled in Hill in Dundee. Captain Stephen le Bie made payment of his dues in 1305. They later branched to Edinburgh, and also to Boreland of Colvend of Dumfriesshire. 3