Recorded as Southby, Sotheby, Sutherby, Suddaby and possibly others, this is an English surname. It is topographical and has some Danish -Viking origins. It describes a person who lived at a farm or village to the south of the main farm (or village). The derivation is from the pre 6th century Olde English 'suor' and 'bi,' the Scandanavian for a farm. Other similar surnames are Westaby, Norbury and Easterby. Suddaby retains the Olde English 'dd' which was formerly pronounced 'th' - and still is in Welsh. Redidential surnames such as this are usually 'from' names. That is to say names given to people after they left their original homesteads to move somewhere else. The easiest way to identify such strangers was to calle] thenm after the place from whence they came. Spelling being at best indifferent and local dialects very thick, usually lead to the creation of 'sounds like' spellings. |In this case the name development has included recordings such as John Suthiby of Yorkshire in 1297, William Sothybe also of Yorkshire in 1498, John Suddebe of Yorkshire in 1516, and John Sotheby of Suffolk in 1674. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Stephen de Sottebi. This was dated 1194, in the Pipe Rolls of Yorkshire, during the reign of King Richard 1st, known as 'The Lionheart', 1189 - 1199. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.