Recorded in many forms as shown below, this interesting and unusual surname is English. It is either locational from the village of Livesey, in the county of Lancashire or possibly from an old English pre 7th century personal name 'Leofsige' , meaning 'Beloved victory'. Livesey, the village was recorded as Liveseye in the tax rolls known as the Feet of Fines in 1227 and Livshey in the Lancashire Inquests list of 1243. It is composed of the old Norse element "hlif", meaning protection, shelter, plus the old English '-eg', meaning island, and hence probably the defended island or the island with a shelter. The name is very prominent in Lancashire where it can be found as Levesley, Livesey, Livesley, Livezey, Livezley and Livzey. The Lancashire church registers include early entires such as that of October 22nd 1552 when Agnes Levesey was christened at Great Harwood, whilst Ales, the daughter of Evan Lyvesey was christened at Brindle, Lancashire on March 22nd 1582, and Henry, the son of Christopher Leiuesley was christened at Ormskirk, Lancashire on June 30th 1661. Ellen Leivesley, daughter of John and Ann Leivesley was christened at Leigh, Lancashire in 1835. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of James Levesey, who held Levesey as a manor. This was dated 1549, in Baine's History of Lancashire, during the reign of King Edward V1, known as "the Boy King", 1547 - 1553. . Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.

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