Can the spivey name be of scottish origin?

Answer 1

The Spivey surname origin and meaning has been questioned for as long as I can remember. Being a Spivey myself I have always pondered this as well. Recently I have gone so far as to have a DNA test to help at least point in a direction. It came back I1 which is scandinavian/dare I say viking dna. Knowing this I looked more into Scotland and England where these people settled. In Scotland on the Isle of Mull there is a 'cove' on the south side that is spelled spelve ( I believe this to be pronounced spelvee, please correct me if im wrong). I believe this to be a derivation of the Old Norse "spjot vi" which roughly means battle spear to my understanding (the t is pronounced "L" and j is "Y") There are also a number of Spiveys in Yorkshire. This location was heavily enhabited by the Danish during the era of the Danelaw. Many people say the name is slang for crippled, I have looked into this as well and found some variants of the name as Sporvey. This is where I got creative , this can be translated in "old norse" as "spor vi" which means battle wound... not quite crippled but over hundreds of years I can see how it could become this. There is also name used in Yorkshire area spelled Spilby, the -by is how the Danish settlers named towns back in the "viking" era. I would really like to see a DNA test for this family to see if the same. hope this points you in the right direction because to my knowledge nothing has been proven for the name, I just do the best I can.

Answer 2

The surname Spivey is not typically of Scottish origin. It is more commonly found in England, particularly in the southern regions. However, surnames can sometimes cross borders and be found in different countries due to migration and other historical factors.