This interesting name, with variant spellings Passy, Passie, Peacey, Pacey, Piosey etc., is of French locational origin from any of the variants places so called from the Gallo-Roman personal name Paccius, plus the locational suffix "acum", a settlement, for example Pacy-sur-eure in Normandy". The surname first appears on record in England in the mid 12th Century, (see below). Other early recordings include: Robert de Pacy, "The Curia Regis Rolls of Warwickshire", (1214); Hugo Pacy, "The Hundred Rolls of Nottinghamshire", (1273); Hugo Pacy, The Hundred Rolls of Nottinghamshire" (1273), and Robert de Pascy, "The Lincolnshire Hundred Rolls", (1273). Entries in London church registers include the christening of Jane Pacy in St. Dionis Backchurch on September 22nd 1540; The marriage of Elizabeth Passey and William Hotchkin in St. Bride Fleet Street on July 27th 1625, and the christening of Richard, son of Valentine Passie, in St. James Clerkenwell in 1635. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Robert de Peissi, which was dated 1158, in the "Pipe Rolls of Nottinghamshire", during the reign of King Henry 11, known as "The Builder of Churches", 1154 - 1189. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.

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