Recorded in the spellings of Vaisey, Vasey, Vassay, Vassey, Vassie, Voysey, Pheasey, and altogether twenty nine forms, this unusual and interesting name is English. However it has its origins in an Anglo-Norman-French word "enveisie", meaning playful or merry and as such it was used as a nickname for a bright, cheerful person. The origination is ultimately from the Latin word "invitiare", meaning pleasure and in the famous Domesday Book of 1086 one "Robertus Invesiatus" is recorded showing the Latinized form of the name. Early examples of the surname recordings in the surviving registers of the diocese of Greater London include Mary Vassay who married James Desremneaux on September 22nd 1723 at St. Paul's church, Covent Garden, and Sarah Vasey who married Robert Wickens on December 23rd 1759 at St. James, Clerkenwell. Nathaniel Veazey was recorded as being a landowner in the Sommer Isles, the original name of Bermuda, in 1679 when he owned about thirteen acres, whilst John Vasey, aged 16 years, was apparently an Irish famine emigrant, who sailed from Liverpool aboard the ship "Joseph Cunard" bound for New York on June 23rd 1846. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Robert L'enveiset. This was dated 1131, in the register of Rievelleaux Abbey, in North Yorkshire, during the reign of King Henry 1st of England, 1100 - 1135. 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.