Lee Family History

English: topographic name for someone who lived near a meadow or a patch of arable land. Middle English lee lea from Old English lēa, dative case (used after a preposition) of lēah, which originally meant ‘wood or glade’. English: habitational name from any of the many places in England named with Old English lēah ‘wood, glade’, including Lee in Buckinghamshire, Essex, Hampshire, Kent, and Shropshire, and Lea in Cheshire, Derbyshire, Herefordshire, Lancashire, Lincolnshire, and Wiltshire.

Irish: shortened Anglicized form of Ó Laoidhigh ‘descendant of Laoidheach’, a personal name derived from laoidh ‘poem, song’ (originally a byname for a poet). Americanized form of Norwegian Lie or Li.

Chinese: variant Romanization of the surnames 李, 黎, 利, 栗, 厲, and 酈. See Li.

Chinese: variant Romanization of the surname 雷; see Lei.

Chinese: variant Romanization of the surname 呂; see Lu. Southeast Asian (Hmong): variant of Ly. Southeast Asian (Iu Mien): from the name of the Lee clan of the Iu Mien people from Laos. Compare Saelee. Korean: variant of Yi; compare Lie.