Family name origins & meanings
- English : habitational name from places in Leicestershire and Lincolnshire called Saxby, from the Old Norse personal name Saxi meaning ‘sword’, or the genitive of the Old English folk name Seaxe, Old Norse Saksar ‘Saxons’ + Old Norse býr ‘farm’, ‘settlement’.
- English : nickname for someone quick to take offense and draw his sword, from Middle English sakespey, Old French sacquespee, from Old French sacque(r) ‘to draw or extract’ (from sac ‘sack’) + espee ‘sword’ (Latin spatha).