Cossey

his interesting surname recorded as Cass, Casse, Cassie, Cassey, Cassy, Cosey, Cossey, and even Cousey, can be English, Irish or Scottish, aIt is one of the major group of surnames which derive from medieval personal names. Cass or Cassie being a nickname form of the popular female given name "Cassandra", a Greek name meaning "snarer of men". It was introduced into Europe at the time of the famous crusades of the 12th century. It is said that the first Cassandra was a Trojan prophetess of classical legend, who was condemned to foretell the future, but never to be believed! For whatever reason, this story was widely popular in medieval times. The name is a metronomic, which is so say that it derives from the mother's name, rather than the father's. The personal name appears as Casse Rumpe in the Hundred Rolls of Cambridge in 1279, whilst William Casse was mentioned in the pipe rolls of Essex in the year 1300. Other recordings include Elyzabeth Casye, who married William Kendricke at St Dionis Backchurch, London, on August 27th 1564, and John Cass of Dalkeith, Scotland, who was summoned before the Privy Council for Scotland in 1566. Hannah Cosey, was a witness at St James Clerkenwell in the city of London on December 17th 1665, whilst Owen Cossey is recorded at St Mary Whitechapel, Stepney, on November 1st 1795.Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.