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Updated June 9, 2019

Family name origins & meanings

  • English : topographic name for someone who lived near a bend, for example in a river, from Middle English bye ‘bend’ (from Old English byge, a derivative of būgan ‘to bow’). Reaney suggests that occasionally it may be from an Old English personal name of obscure origin.
  • Norwegian and Swedish : habitational name from any of various farms named By, from Old Norse býr ‘farm’.

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