Family name origins & meanings
- Irish (eastern Ulster) : reduced form of McVey, an Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac an Bheathadh, a patronymic from the personal name Mac an Bheathadh meaning ‘son of life’. Compare Vahey.
- Dutch (de Vey) : from Vei ‘playful’ ‘luxuriant’, ‘sensual’.
- German : metronymic from a short form of the personal name Sophie.