This very interesting surname may be either of early medieval Welsh, or of English origin. As a Welsh surname Preedy has two possible sources, the first being an occupational name for a bard, deriving from the Old Welsh "prydydd" or "predith", poet, bard. One Eynon Predith, bard of Elfael, was noted in the 1292 Subsidy Rolls of Wales, and Richard Pridie, Pryddie or Priddie, mentioned in Medieval Records of Tenby and Manorbier, Pembrokeshire, appears to be the same person as Rice Priditt of Dale (Pembrokeshire), also recorded in the above rolls. The second possibility is that Preedy derives from the Celtic personal name "Predyr" or "Peredur", which was borne in Arthurian legend by one of the Knights of the Round Table - a name ultimately believed to have as its component elements the Old Welsh "peri", spears, and "dur", hard, steel. As an English surname, Preedy is locational in origin, from the parish and village of Priddy, north west of Wells in Somerset. Recorded as "Pridi" circa 1180, and as "Pridie" in the 1219 Feet of Fines for that county, the place was so called from a derivative of the Welsh "pridd", earth, soil. In the modern idiom the surname is variously spelt: Preedy, Pridd(e)y and Preddy. On March 15th 1563, Alicia, daughter of Joannis Pridie, was christened in Wedmore, Somerset. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Cadwgan Predith, bard of Glascwn, which was dated 1292, in "Early Medieval Records of Radnorshire", during the reign of King Edward 1 of England, known as "The Hammer of the Scots", 1272 - 1307. 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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