Amongst the original followers of William the Conqueror at the Invasion of England in 1066 was William de Anesi, from the village called Anizy in Calvados, Normandy. This place name is thought to be derived from the Gallo-Roman personal name "Anitius" (of uncertain etymology), and the local suffix "-acum". William de Anesi was granted extensive land holdings in the counties of Hampshire and Wiltshire, and his name is perpetuated in the village of Winterbourne Dauntsey. The Fees Rolls of Wiltshire for the year 1242 records that the village was held by Roger Dauntsey. Over the following centuries many changes took place in the name and produced forms such as Danesi, Dincy, Dinsey, and Dinzey, the first "modern" recording being possibly that of Roger Danesi, in the Kent Rolls of 1410. Other recordings from that medieval period include: Peter de Dauntesy, of Berkshire in 1273, and Richard de Dauntesye in Wiltshire in the same year. An early settler in New England was John Dancy, who was recorded in the Virginia Muster of 1621, whilst recordings from church registers of the city of London include: the marriage of John Dancey and Isabell Jones on March 22nd 1643, at St. Benet's, Paul's Wharf, and the christening of Will Dincy at Christ Church Greyfriars, on December 7th 1716. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of William de Anesi. This was dated 1086, in the Domesday Book of Wiltshire, during the reign of King William 1, known as "The Conqueror", 1066 - 1087. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.

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