Wykey

Recorded in many spellings although all are quite rare, and including Wickey, Wickie, Wikey, Wykey, Wickee, Wixcey, Wixey, and others, this is an English surname. It is locational from either some place such as Whixley in Yorkshire, although this has a surname in its own right, or more likely it is from some now 'lost' medieval village called probably 'Wic leah' and meaning the dairy farm in a clearing in a forest. Lost villages are a feature of the British Isles, and it is estimated that at least five thousand places have disappeared over the past five centuries, all or most of whom, have given rise to surnames. The reasons as to why so many have gone has been the subject of several books, but as a generalisation changes in farming practices, rapacious landlords, land drainage, and the Great Plagues, probably account for over 80%. In the modern era, war, urbanisation and coastal erosion, continue to play their part. The surname is well recorded in its different spellings in surviving church registers of the city of London. Examples taken at random include Nathan Wykey, christened at St Giles Cripplegate on September 26th 1680, Mary Wickey christened at St Andrews Holborn on May 22nd 16692, and John Wixey christened at the famous church of St Mary le Bone on October 27th 1778