Sandy
Usually a surname from the Bedfordshire place-name Sandy, though in some cases it may be a nickname or patronymic from Alexander.
The #5,914 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 52,994 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The surname Sandy is most often explained as a locational name from Sandy in Bedfordshire, an old place-name built from Old English sand and a term meaning an island or dry patch of land by water. That gives the sense of a sandy riverside or waterside place. In some records, however, Sandy is also treated as a shortened form of Alexander, used as a familiar personal name and then passed on as a surname.
History
The Bedfordshire place-name explanation is the one explicitly given by older surname dictionaries, and it fits the usual English pattern of taking a surname from a home parish. Elsewhere, especially in Scottish and northern English usage, Sandy can also reflect the common nickname for Alexander. The related spellings Sandys and Sanday appear in historical records, and some families may have different origins even when the surname looks the same.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Older sources note that Sandys was once pronounced like Sands, which can make the spelling look more distinctive than the sound.
From the historical record
“saM, sand] SANDY (A.-Gr.) a double dim. of Alexander, q.v. [E. dim. suff. -y\ (Eng.) Bel. to ' Sandy (Beds), 13th cent. Sandye, Sandeye, Domesday 'in Sandeia' = the Sandy Riparian Land [O.E. sand, sand + (g, island, waterside] SANDYFIRTH (Scand.) Dweller at the Sandy”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)