Coat of Arms & Family Crests Store
Heady Coat of Arms / Heady Family CrestThe surname of HEADY was of two fold origin. It was an English nickname for someone having some particular connection with a festival of the Church, originally derived from the Old English words HEAH (high) and DAEG (day). The name is a corruption of the name Halliday. The name was perhaps given to a child who was born at Easter or on Christmas Day. It was also a locational name 'of Haydon' parishes in Counties Dorset, and Essex. Also a chapelry in the parish of Warden, County Northampton. Local names usually denoted where a man held his land, and indicated where he actually lived. The name has numerous variant spellings which include HALIDAY, HALLADAY, HALLEDAY, HOLIDAY, HAYDON and HOLYDAY. Early records of the name mention Richard de HAYDAY, who was recorded in the year 1273 in County Yorkshire and Agnes de HEYDAYE of Yorkshire was listed in the Yorkshire Poll Tax of 1379. Hereditary surnames were originally imported from France into England during the Norman Conquest of 1066. In the two centuries or so after the Conquest surnames were acquired by most families of major landholders, and many landed families of lesser importance. There appears to have been a constant trickle of migration into Britain between about the years 1200 and 150O, mostly from France and the Low Countries, with a small number of migrants from Scandinavia, Germany, Italy and the Iberian peninsular, and occasional individuals from further afield. During this period groups of aliens settled in this country as for example, the Germans who from the late 15th century onwards settled in Cumbria to work the metal mines. Immigration during this time had only a small effect on the body of surnames used in Britain. In many cases, the surnames of immigrants were thoroughly Anglicised. The late sixteenth century saw the arrival, mostly in London and the south-coast ports of large numbers of people fleeing from the war regions of France. Later instances of the name include Thomas Wallys and Alice HOLLIDAYE who were married in London in the year 1583 and John HOLYDAY and Alice Chase were married at Canterbury Cathedral in the year 1645. In the Middle Ages heraldry came into use as a practical matter. It originated in the devices used to distinguish the armoured warriors in tournament and war, and was also placed on seals as marks of identity. As far as records show, true heraldry began in the middle of the 12th century, and appeared almost simultaneously in several countries of Western Europe. |
