This rare and interesting surname has Old English locational origins. it is a developed form of the pre 7th Century "Forth" meaning an estuary or wide river plus "eg" - an island, or possibly "teag" an enclosure on the edge of the estuary. The "name" is found in various english places called "Forty", but the modern surname probably derives from the village of Fordie in Perthchire, Bessie Fordie being recorded in Aldecambus - Milue, Scotland in 1673. However this is some seventy years after the Northumberland records so the "origin" is not proven. The name recordings include Alexander Fordie of Newcastle upon Tyne on March 4th 1677, Edward Foordy of Alnwick on September 20th 1685, and Elizabeth Fordy, also of Alnwick, which seems to be the epi-centre of the name, on May 30th 1765, when she married one Cuthbert Burne. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of William Fordey, which was dated March 4th 1607, a witness at Berwick upon Tweed, during the reign of King James 1 of England and V1 of Scotland, 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.