This intriguing and unusual name is of English origin and is a variant of a locational name Stainsby from either of two places so called, one in Derbyshire, and the other in Lincolnshire. the former place is recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as 'Steinesbi' and is a derivation of an Olde Norse personal name 'Steinn' with Olde Norse 'byr', a village or homestead. The latter is recorded as 'Stafnebi' in the Pipe Rolls of Lincolnshire of 1196 and has a different Olde Norse name for the first element 'Stafn' with the second element 'by' as before. During the Middle Ages when it was increasingly common for people to migrate from their birth place seeking work elsewhere it became customary to adopt the placename as a means of identification, thus resulting in a wide dispersal of the name. One Dorothie Stainsbie the infant daughter of Richard and Elizabeth Stainsbie was christened on 23rd September 1667 at Dunstan's Stepney. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Robert Stanesbey, witness, which was dated 29th December 1620, St. Andrew's Records, Holborn, London, during the reign of King James I of Scotland and England, 1603 - 1625. 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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