Recorded in the modern spellings of Mumby, Mumbey, and Munby, this is a medieval English surname. It is locational from the village of Mumby in the county of Lincolnshire. The village name is first recorded in the famous Domesday Book of the year 1086 in the spelling of Mundebi, which according to Ekwall's "Place names of England" is from the Danish-Viking pre 7th century personal name "Mundi", as found in the weekday name of Monday or Moon Day, plus "bi" - a farm, to give Mundi's farm. In 1116 in the Pipe Rolls of Linconshire, the place is recorded as Mumbi, and it is therefore easy to see why the later surname spelling has variations. Locational surnames were in general "from" names. That is to say names given to people after they left their original village and moved elsewhere. The exception to this rule was when the original land owners or lords of the manor held it as their own surname, as seems to be the case here. In addition a coat of arms was granted to Mumby of Mumby, although we do not have a precise date. The blazon of the arms includes a blue fretty on a gold field, with a canton, the highest award in heraldry. The earliest known recording of the name is that of Alan de Mumby of County Lincoln in the charters known as the Testa de Neville in the year 1272, and Hered de Munby in the Hundred Rolls of 1273. In 1669 we have the unusual recording of Elizabeth Mumbee who married Robert Hodskines at the church of St James, Clerkenwell, in the city of London.

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