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My research into
THE NIXEY FAMILY
Introduction
Over the years, there were two questions I often asked myself, and have also been asked by others:
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Several centuries ago, surnames began to be used as a way of identifying a certain aspect of an individual. For example, by trade – Carpenter, father’s forename – Thomas, location of birth – Coventry, and physical features or appearance – Gray. The question is, could surnames also have originated from something mythical?
The editors of the Encyclopaedia Britannica wrote the following definition, which may – or may not – answer the questions regarding the Nixey surname:
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Nix, also called nixie, or nixy, in Germanic mythology, a water being, half human, half fish, that lives in a beautiful underwater palace and mingles with humans by assuming a variety of physical forms (e.g., that of a fair maiden or an old woman) or by making itself invisible. One of three attributes may betray the disguises of nixes: they are music lovers and excellent dancers, and they have the gift of prophecy. Usually malevolent, a nix can easily be propitiated with gifts. In some regions, nixes are said to abduct human children and to lure people into deep water to drown. According to some sources, nixes can marry human beings and bear human children. |
Does this definition prove the origin and meaning of the Nixey surname? Does it indicate without doubt that the family originated in Germany? Whether it does or not, it’s intriguing to note that the earliest parish records from the turn of the 18th Century primarily use the Nixy spelling as seen in the definition above. It was even being used in the early 1800’s at Waterstock in Oxfordshire, although it appears by that time Nixey had become the generally accepted spelling. It’s also worth noting that Y-DNA testing with Family Tree DNA seems to indicate that we branched out from a family group with the surname “Nix.”
ARTHUR ERNEST NIXEY(16th September 1927–28th September 2015)On 28th September 2015, my father passed away at the age of 88. |
Credits
The Nixey family crest is by 4crests.com.