This interesting and unusual name is of French origin and has two possible sources, the first being a dialectal variant of a metonymic occupational name for a maker of cord or string or perhaps a habitual wearer of decorative ties and ribbons. The derivation is from the Old French "Corde" the Latin "C(l)orda", and Greek "khorde" meaning string. Alternatively this could be a locational surname from any of the various places so called in Orne, Bouce, and Montree, France. The derivation is from the Gallo-Roman personal name "Cordus", meaning young or new. The earliest Records appear in Essex, as in one Mary Cordy the infant daughter of Jonas Cordy, was christened at St. Botolph's, Colchester on January 26th 1560. The variants include Corday, Cordee, Cord(i)er and Cordie. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Walter Corde, which was dated 1182, in the Abbott Samson's Kalender of Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk, during the reign of King Henry 11, known as "The Builder of Churches", 1154 - 1189. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as 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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