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’.