Easterby - Name

Recorded in a wide range of spellings which include Easbie, Easby, Eastby, Easterby and Esseby, this is an English locational surname. In its suffix of "-by" originally "-bi" we have the Scandanavian word for a farm and specifically a dairy farm, so arguably this name has a dash of early Viking, perhaps from 7th century a.d. It almost certainly originates from any or all of the villages called Easby or Eastby in the counties of Cumberland and Yorkshire. They all appear to share the same meaning of either "a farm to the east of the main settlement" or possibly "Ash farm" from a proximity to "easc" (ash) woods. Locational surnames are usually "from" names. That is to say surnames that were given to people as easy identification, after they left their original homes to move somewhere else. The further they moved the more likely that the spelling adopted a "sounds like" appearance although in this case this may be restricted to dropping the "t" in East. Early examples of the surname recordings include Alicia Easterbye at St Olaves church, York, on September 12th 1539, and John Easby who married Isabell Grainger at Penrith, in Cumbria, on June 24th 1633.