Recorded as Lumby, Lumbley, Lumbly, Lumley, Lumly and possibly others, this is an English locational surname. It is locational and originates either from Lumley in the parish of Chester-le-Street, in the county of Durham, or from Lumby, a former township within the parish of Sherburn in Yorkshire. The relative closeness of the two places, both being adjacent to the former Great North Road, has meant that over the centuries the surnames have overlapped or been fused, to thepoint where it is not always possible without a genealogical search to pin point the origin of a particular family. Lumby in Yorkshire translates as the farm by the grove of woods. This is a place name of pre 7th century (Danish) Scandanavian origin, where it is found as Lundby. In fact Lundby is the correct spelling, it being first recorded in that form in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles of the year 963 a.d.. Lumley is from Lumleia, meaning the enclosure by the water, and as such it is first recorded in 1160. The earliest recording of the latter as a surname is that of Roger de Lumelye of Leicestershire in the Hundred Rolls of 1273, whilst Robertus de Lumby appears in the Poll Tax register for Yorkshire in 1379. The Lumley's of Lumley Castle, County Durham, were first enobled in the 14th century, aned claim descent from a Viking called Ligulf at the time of the conquest of 1066.

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