Combey Family History

See Combie and McCombie. Probably a variant of Comber or Coomber in which the final -er has been reduced to -e and raised to -y. Compare William Comber 1613, William Combee 1616 in IGI (Claines Worcs), and John Comber 1681, Thomas Cumby 1731 in IGI (Highley Shrops).

Alternatively, it may be a variant of Coombe with a similar raising of the final -e to -y. Pronunciation of Middle English -e was generally lost before the end of the medieval period, but it was sometimes retained in South West dialect.