Lacy
A surname of Norman origin, most famously tied to the medieval de Laci lords who came to England with the Conquest.
The #1,559 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 13,360 Americans shares it.
Etymology
This name is usually taken from the Norman place-name de Laci or de Lacy, meaning someone from a place called Lassy/Lacey in Normandy. The surname entered England with Norman families after 1066 and then lost the preposition over time, becoming simply Lacy or Lacey. Some early sources connect it especially with the powerful de Laci family of medieval Yorkshire.
History
The best-known medieval bearers were Roger de Laci and Ilbert de Laci, leading Norman landholders who were rewarded after the Conquest. Their name became established in England as both a hereditary surname and a place-associated noble style. In later centuries the spelling Lacey became common alongside Lacy, and both forms survived in England, Ireland, and the United States.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
The de Lacy family was important enough in medieval England that Domesday-era records and later genealogies repeatedly use the name as a marker of major landholding power.
From the historical record
“LACEY. See Lacy. LACY. Roger de Laci, eldest son of Walter de L., came over with William the Conqueror, and was rewarded with the tenure in capite of IIG lordships. To Ilbert de Laci the Conqueror gave the castle and town of Pontefract, co. York, with 164 lordships. Kelham's Domesday. The two were probably related…”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom