Livesay
A surname most likely linked to a place-name or a variant of a similar English local surname, though the exact origin is not certain.
The #8,281 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 77,148 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The historical excerpts provided do not include a direct etymology for Livesay. The name is likely English in form and may be connected with a place-name or with another surname in the Livesey/Livsey/Livesay group, which are often treated as local surnames. In older records, spellings of surnames like this were highly fluid, so Livesay may represent a later spelling of an older local name rather than a separate origin.
History
The surname appears in English-language records and later spread to North America, where it remains relatively uncommon. Because the supplied excerpts only mention the name incidentally, they do not allow a secure statement about a single family origin or about any one famous bearer beyond the cited artist/illustrator reference.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
19th-century sources often recorded surnames with many different spellings, so Livesay and Livesey can sometimes belong to the same broader name tradition.
From the historical record
“Liversedge, 176. Livery, 189. Livesay, 139. Livey, 112. Living, 28. Livingood, 42. Livingston, 6, 300. Livingstone, 236.”
— Suffolk Surnames (3rd ed.)