Recorded in a number of spellings including Dandy, Dandie, Tandee, Tandey, Tandye, Tandi, Tandie, Tandy, Thandi, and possibly others, this is an Anglo-Scottish surname, but one of Greek origins. It is a diminutive form of the personal name Andrew, and developed as a fusing of Th'Andrew or 'The son of Andrew'. The personal name as Andrew or Andreas was introduced by both the Normans after the Conquest of England in 1066, and the later Crusaders to the Holy Land, who used Greece as their launching point. The literal meaning is "manly", a translation which no doubt helped its considerable popularity. Recorded throughout Christendom, St. Andrew being the patron saint of both Scotland and Russia. Examples of early recordings include John Andres in the London Rolls of 1326, and Willam Andro of Aberdeen in 1399. It is unclear as to when the surname as Tandy or its variants was first recorded but we have the marriage of Sarah Tandy to Elias Clark at St. Peter's Cornhill, in the city of London in 1638. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was sometimes known as the 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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