Nacey

Recorded in a wide range of spellings including Nacie, Nacey, Nasey, Naisey, Nassie, Nassy, Nassey, Nesey and Nezey, this is almost certainly an English surname. We believe it is locational and to have originated from some now lost "medieval" place, of which the only apparent public reminder is the surname, in its many and quite varied spellings. Indeed it is the presence of so many forms which gives further credence to the "lost" village theory, particularly as it is known that over three thousand surnames of the British Isles do originate from such a source. The likely origin of the name is the Olde English pre 7th century words "naes-eg" meaning the island by the headland, or possibly "naess-eg", the island of ash trees. These descriptions may not have applied to an island as such or even a headland, but more probably was a description for an area of dry ground perhaps in a fen country, which was raised above the marsh. It is true that there is a similarity to the Italian surnames Nassi, Nussi and Nessi, but these are all nickname forms of the surname Vanussi, meaning the descendants of John. As far as we are aware there is no evidence of the Italian names having any impact on British surnames. Examples of this surname are widely recorded in the surviving early registers of the diocese of Greater London. These include: Henry Nassy whose daughter Jane was christened at St Dunstans in the East, Stepney, on October 7th 1658, Stephen Nacie or Nacey, who was christened at St Botolphs without Aldgate, on April 29th 1688, and William Nussey, a witness at St Olaves, Hart Street, on May 19th 1707.