Woodey Family History

From Middle English wode ‘wood’ + heie ‘enclosure’ (Old English wudu + (ge)hæg). The surname may be topographic for a person who lived by an enclosure in a wood or toponymic for a person from a place so named, such as Woodhey Green in Faddiley (Cheshire).

Also possibly from East Woodhay (Hants) and West Woodhay (Berks), apparently named with Old English wīd ‘wide broad’ as the initial element confused with early Old English widu ‘wood’ and so too with Old English wudu.

Some of the post-medieval early bearers may belong under (2). From Middle English wodi or some other derivative of Middle English wode ‘frenzied wild’ (Old English wōd) perhaps formed on the analogy of, for example, Middle English mody (see Moody).

Compare Wood. Some of the post-medieval bearers may belong under (1).