Lyddy

This interesting surname of Irish origin is a dialectal variant of Liddy which is an Anglicized form of the Gaelic O' Lideadha meaning "descendant of Lideadh", a personal name of uncertain origin. The surname dates back to the 11th Century, (see below). Further recordings include Gillecrist and Malaghlyn O' Liddy (1314), Limerick, Ireland. Variations in the idiom of the spelling include Leddy, Lyddy, etc.. One Maudlen Ludy married William Elliott on November 17th 1632 in London. William Luddy married Hannah O' Brien at St. James, Paddington on March 9th 1840 and Michael Luddy married Ellen Sweeny on December 26th 1847 at St. Clement Danes, Westminster. One Michael Luddy, aged 15 yrs, a famine emigrant, sailed from Liverpool aboard the Mayfield on June 25th 1846. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Caibre O' Ligda, crenagh of Emly, which was dated 1058, in the "Annals of Innisfallen", during the reign of King Edward, known as "The Confessor", 1042 - 1066. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.