The surname of ABDIE is of two-fold origin, it was a locational name 'the dweller at the Abbey' from residence therein. Local names usually denoted where a man held his land, and indicated where he actually lived. During the middle ages it was customary for a man to be named after the village where he lived or held his land. This name identified his whole family and followed him wherever he moved. The name was also occupational, an official name from the ecclesiastical title, a man of the cloth. Early records of the name mention Henry de Abde, 1273, County Lancashire. Robert del Abbay, was documented in 1332, in County Lancashire. William de Mikelfield del Abbay, was recorded during the reign of Edward III (1327-1377). Robert de Abbey of Yorkshire was listed in the Yorkshire Poll Tax of 1379. George Abbey registered at Magdelen College, Oxford in the year 1594. Richard Abby and Elizabeth Hodgkins were married at Westminster, London in 1648. George Abbey and Mary Feild were married at St. James's, Clerkenwell, London in the year 1648. Many factors contributed to the establishment of a surname system. For generations after the Norman Conquest of 1066 a very few dynasts and magnates passed on hereditary surnames, but the main of the population, with a wide choice of first-names out of Celtic, Old English, Norman and Latin, avoided ambiguity without the need for a second name. As society became more stabilized, there was property to leave in wills, the towns and villages grew and the labels that had served to distinguish a handful of folk in a friendly village were not adequate for a teeming slum where perhaps most of the householders were engaged in the same monotonous trade, so not even their occupations could distinguish them, and some first names were gaining a tiresome popularity, especially Thomas after 1170. The hereditary principle in surnames gained currency first in the South, and the poorer folk were slower to apply it. By the 14th century however, most of the population had acquired a second name. An eminent member of the name was Edwin Austin Abbey (1852-1911) an American painter and illustrator, born in Philadelphia. He settled in England in 1878. He is known for his illustrations of the works of Shakespeare and for his picture of Edward 111.'s coronation. The associated arms are recorded in Sir Bernard Burkes General Armory. Ulster King of Arms in 1884. |
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