2,318 Global CORBY Family Members

CORBY Family History

This interesting surname is of English locational origin from any of the various places so called. Corby in Lincolnshire and Northamptonsire, recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086, as "Corbi" and "Corbei" respectively, are composed of the Old Norse personal name "Kori" plus "byr" meaning a farm or settlement. Corby in Cumberland, recorded as "Chorkeby" in the "Register of the Priory of Wetherhal" (1120), has as it's first element the Old Irish personal name "Corc"; hence "Corc's farm". One, Osbert de Coreby, is recorded in the Hundred Rolls of Lincolnshire (1273). It is also possible that the surname is a diminutive of the French "corb" meaning crow, and would have originated as a nickname for one with black shiny hair...