Dey History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

The Dey surname seems to have come from a few sources: it was an occupational name for a dairy maid in some parts of England and Scotland; it was a derivation from David; and in some cases the name came from the word eye (d’eye). The same source claims that name was could have been an occupational name as in ‘the deye’ or ‘day,’ a maid, a dairy-maid. 1 Over in Normandy pre-Conquest times, we found “St. John de Day, near St. Lo, in the Cotentin [Peninsula.] ” 2 This peninsula is now known as Cherbourg Peninsula.

Early Origins of the Dey family

The surname Dey was first found in Somerset where one of the first records of the name was Leofgife oa Dagean c. 1055. Godiua Daia was listed c. 1095 in Suffolk and Aluric Dai was listed in the Pipe Rolls for Buckinghamshire in 1196. A few years later, Ralph Deie was among those listed in the Register of the Freemen of Leicester in 1211. 3

The Yorkshire Poll Tax Rolls of 1379 list the following: Willelmus Dey; Ricardus Dey; and Thomas le Dey. 1