Larby (surname)

Larby, also commonly spelt Larbey (as well as other variants) is a very uncommon surname with English origin.

Meaning
According to the surname database website : "This unusual name is of Medieval English origin and is locational from a so called 'lost' village, likely to have been situated in Sussex, which is suggested by the fact that there are numerous recordings of this surname in that county. The derivation is thought to be from the Old English pre 7th Century personal name 'Lyrel', with 'beorg', meaning a hill, thus Lyrel's hill. The phenomenon of the 'lost' village was a result of enforced land clearance in the height of the wool trade (12th and 13th Centuries) to make way for sheep pasture, and it is estimated that there are between seven and ten thousand such places that have disappeared from British maps. Amongst the sample recordings in Sussex are the christenings of Bartholmew Larby on January 31st 1591 at Kirdford, and Sarah Larby on April 10th 1657 at Stopham. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Nicholas Larbey (witness), which was dated January 17th 1584, Wisborough Green, Sussex, during the reign of Queen Elizabeth 1, 'Good Queen Bess', 1558-1603."==Appearance== According to familysearch, at the time of the 1881 census, exact spelling Larby, there were twenty-nine people in the United States, twelve in Canada and one hundred and seventy in Britain (England and Wales). This totals two hundred and eleven in those four countries. At the time of the 1901 census of England and Wales, there were two hundred and fifty-six Larby's, still a very small amount yet still an increase after twenty years. The surname has always been very uncommon. The majority of Larby's lived in Surrey and Sussex.