Lewsie

This is an English locational surname. Recorded in several spellings including Lewsy, Lewsey, Lewzey and the very rare Lewsie, its origins are conjectural. The name, as a place name, is not recorded in any of the gazetters of the British Isles in any similar form, unless it be as a variant of somewhere such as Lewes in Sussex, or even the Isles of Lewis in Scotland. Either are possible but unlikely. The most likely explanation is that the surname does originate from a now 'lost' medieval site, probably in East Anglia where there are several rivers called 'Lew', and various villages such as North Lew and Lew Trenchard, as well as Lew in Oxfordshire. The make up of the surname suggests a derivation from the Olde English pre 7th century 'lliu' meaning sparking and 'eg', an island, to give an island surrounded by sparkling water. The fens of East Anglia were largely drained by Dutch and German engineers between the 14th and 18th centuries, and as a result many 'islands' disappeared, and the whole area became, and remains, one huge agricultural estate, the richest lands in Britain. What is certain is that being a locational name this surname is also a 'from' name. That is to say a name given to people after they left their original homes and moved elsewhere, which may have been the city of London. The name is well recorded there from Elizabethan times. The first known recording being that of Elizabeth Lewsey, who married Matthew Thomson in London, possibly by civil licence, on December 22nd 1578, whilst John Lewsy married Ann Gold at St Margarets Westminster, on November 20th 1595.