This is an English locational surname, but whose antecedents are of Danish-Viking pre 8th century origins. It originates either from a now "lost" medieval village called "Fishby or Fisby" or similar, of which the only surviving memory is the surname in its varied spellings of Fishby, Fishbie, Fisbe, Fisbee, or it is from an existing place such as Firsby or Fixby. There are three village examples of Firsby in Lincolnshire, and one in Yorkshire, or Fixby, a village near Huddersfield in West Yorkshire. The first Firsby recording is of the Yorkshire village in the 1086 Domesday Book when it is recorded in the spelling of "Friesbi", the place of the Friesians, early settlers from Germany, now famous for their cattle. The first Fixby recording appears in the same year as "Fechesbi", and it may well have the same meaning. There are no early recordings in either Yorkshire or Lincolnshire for the surname as Fishby, but this is not unusual, locational surnames by their nature, were often given to people after they left their original homes and moved elsewhere. It was the easiest form of identification to call "strangers" by the name of the place, whence they came. Spelling being at best problematical, and dialects "thick" soon lead to variant spellings. Examples of this surname taken from the early registers include Jone Fixby of Royston, Yorkshire, on March 9th 1568, John Fishby, a witness at St Dunstans in the East, Stepney, London, on October 3rd 1613, and Anne Fishbee, who married Roger White, at St Giles church, Cripplegate, London, on April 8th 1656.

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