NameCensus.

UK surname

Fey

Derived from Middle English, referring to someone with supernatural abilities or a connection to fairy folklore.

In the 1881 census there were 208 people recorded with the Fey surname, ranking it #12,511 among surnames in the records. By 2016, the modern count was 311, ranked #14,376, down from #12,511 in 1881.

The strongest historical links point to Bristol City: St Mary Redcliff, Exeter St David (including Castle Yard) and St Pancras. In the modern distribution records, the strongest local clusters include Teignbridge, South Gloucestershire and Lambeth.

Across the surname records, the highest recorded count for Fey is 320 in 2010. Compared with 1881, the name has grown by 49.5%.

1881 census count

208

Ranked #12,511

Modern count

311

2016, ranked #14,376

Peak year

2010

320 bearers

Map years

6

1851 to 2016

Key insights

  • Fey had 208 recorded bearers in 1881, making it the #12,511 surname in that year.
  • The latest modern count shown here is 311 in 2016, ranked #14,376.
  • Within the historical census years, the highest count was 230 in 1901.
  • The contemporary neighbourhood profile most associated with the surname is Multicultural Inner Suburbs.

Fey surname distribution map

The map shows where the Fey surname is concentrated in each census or modern distribution year. Darker areas mean a stronger local concentration.

Distribution map

Fey surname density by area, 1881 census.

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Lower densityMedium densityHigh density

Timeline

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Fey over time

The table below tracks recorded surname counts and rank from the 19th-century census years through the modern adult-register period.

Year Period Count Rank
1851 historical 197 #10,535
1881 historical 208 #12,511
1891 historical 5 #33,939
1901 historical 230 #13,851
1997 modern 298 #13,593
1998 modern 304 #13,773
1999 modern 286 #14,412
2000 modern 297 #14,008
2001 modern 285 #14,191
2002 modern 303 #13,909
2003 modern 292 #14,065
2004 modern 285 #14,344
2005 modern 272 #14,742
2006 modern 278 #14,623
2007 modern 281 #14,660
2008 modern 291 #14,430
2009 modern 303 #14,315
2010 modern 320 #14,088
2011 modern 319 #14,000
2012 modern 297 #14,607
2013 modern 307 #14,522
2014 modern 318 #14,246
2015 modern 317 #14,183
2016 modern 311 #14,376

Geography

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Where Feys are most common

Historical parish links are strongest around Bristol City: St Mary Redcliff, Exeter St David (including Castle Yard), St Pancras, St George and London parishes. These are the places where the surname stands out most clearly in the older records.

The modern local-area list points to Teignbridge, South Gloucestershire, Lambeth and Bath and North East Somerset. Treat these as concentration signals, not proof that every family line began there.

Some modern areas include a three-digit suffix, such as Leeds 110. The suffix is a small-area code, so it stays in the table while the prose uses the plain place name.

Top historical parishes

Rank Parish Area
1 Bristol City: St Mary Redcliff Gloucestershire
2 Exeter St David (including Castle Yard) Devon
3 St Pancras London (North Districts)
4 St George Gloucestershire
5 London parishes London 2

Top modern areas

Rank Area District
1 Teignbridge 018 Teignbridge
2 South Gloucestershire 029 South Gloucestershire
3 South Gloucestershire 026 South Gloucestershire
4 Lambeth 036 Lambeth
5 Bath and North East Somerset 003 Bath and North East Somerset

Forenames

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First names often paired with Fey

These lists show first names that appear often with the Fey surname in historical and recent records.

Modern profile

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Neighbourhood profile for Fey

Modern surname records can be compared with neighbourhood classifications. For Fey, this points to the kinds of places where the surname is most concentrated today.

These neighbourhood labels describe areas, not individual people. They are useful because surnames often cluster through family history, migration, housing patterns and local work. A surname can be strongest in one type of neighbourhood even when people with that name live across the country.

The UK classification gives the national picture. The London classification is more specific to the capital, where housing, age profile, tenure and population mix can look quite different from the rest of the UK.

UK neighbourhood type

UK Output Area Classification

Supergroup

Baseline UK

Group

Multicultural Inner Suburbs

Nationally, the Fey surname is most associated with neighbourhoods classed as Multicultural Inner Suburbs, within Baseline UK. This does not mean every Fey household fits that profile, but it gives a useful signal about where the modern surname distribution is strongest.

Read profile summary

Group profile

These neighbourhoods house many younger and middle-aged adults with children. All ethnic minorities, apart from those identifying as Pakistani or Bangladeshi, appear to be present in above average proportions. Affiliation to Christian religions is uncommon. Long-term disability rates are low, mirrored in limited provision of unpaid care. Privately rented terrace houses and flats are the norm. Managerial, professional and technical occupations are prevalent, and work is rarely part time. Many individuals have degree level qualifications. These areas form the inner suburbs of many of the UK’s towns and cities.

Wider pattern

This Supergroup exemplifies the broad base to the UK’s social structure, encompassing as it does the average or modal levels of many neighbourhood characteristics, including all housing tenures, a range of levels of educational attainment and religious affiliations, and a variety of pre-retirement age structures. Yet, in combination, these mixes are each distinctive of the parts of the UK. Overall, terraced houses and flats are the most prevalent, as is employment in intermediate or low-skilled occupations. However, this Supergroup is also characterised by above average levels of unemployment and lower levels of use of English as the main language. Many neighbourhoods occur in south London and the UK’s other major urban centres.

London neighbourhood type

London Output Area Classification

Supergroup

Older Residents in Owner-Occupied Suburbs

Group

London Fringe

Within London, Fey is most associated with areas classed as London Fringe, part of Older Residents in Owner-Occupied Suburbs. This gives the surname a London-specific profile rather than forcing the capital into the same pattern as the rest of the country.

Read profile summary

Group profile

Predominantly located in neighbourhoods on the outskirts of Greater London, residents of these neighbourhoods typically have their highest qualifications below degree (Level 4) level, with those still in work engaged in skilled trades and occupations in distribution, hotels and restaurants. There is low ethnic diversity in these neighbourhoods and high levels of Christian religious affiliation. Detached or terraced houses predominate, often with spare rooms.

Wider London pattern

The age distribution of these neighbourhoods is skewed towards the middle-aged and old, although few residents live alone or in communal establishments and numbers of dependent children are around average. Owner occupation is the norm, as is residence in detached or semi-detached houses. Residential densities are low and many households have spare rooms. Most residents were born in the UK and, aside from some identifying as members of Chinese or Indian ethnicities, identify as White. Mixed ethnicity households are rare. Incidence of married couples is higher than average and few individuals have never been married. A large proportion of individuals still in employment work in administrative and secretarial occupations, or in the construction industry. Few residents are students, and many households own more than one car.

Healthy neighbourhoods

Access to healthy assets and hazards

Fey is most concentrated in decile 10 for access to healthy assets and hazards. This places the surname towards the healthier end of the index.

Lower deciles point towards weaker access to healthy assets or stronger exposure to local hazards. Higher deciles point towards stronger access and fewer hazards.

10
Lower access Higher access

Neighbourhood deprivation

Index of Multiple Deprivation

Fey falls in decile 5 for neighbourhood deprivation. This puts the surname near the middle of the scale.

Decile 1 represents the more deprived end of the scale. Decile 10 represents the less deprived end.

5
More deprived Less deprived

Broadband speed

Fixed broadband download speed

The modern neighbourhood pattern for Fey is most associated with a typical fixed broadband download band of Over 70 mbit/s.

The scale below places that band in context, from slower local download bands through to faster ones.

10
Slower band Faster band

Area snapshot

Ethnic group estimate

Most common ethnic group estimate
White - British

This describes the area pattern most associated with Fey, not the ethnicity of every person with the surname.

Meaning and origin of Fey

The surname Fey has its origins in Germany and can be traced back to the 12th century. It is derived from the Old High German word "fehi," meaning cattle or livestock. The name may have initially been given as a descriptive surname to someone who worked as a cowherd or cattle farmer.

In medieval Germany, the name was often spelled as "Feye" or "Feiger." One of the earliest recorded instances of the name appears in the "Codex Traditionum Monasterii Superioris Rathensis," a 12th-century manuscript from the monastery of Obermünster in Regensburg, Bavaria. The document mentions a certain "Heinricus Feiger" among its list of landowners and tenants.

By the 13th century, the name had spread to other regions of Germany, and variations such as "Feie," "Feye," and "Fey" can be found in historical records from towns and villages across the country. For example, a "Johannes Fey" is mentioned in a 1287 document from the city of Lübeck in northern Germany.

One of the earliest known bearers of the name was Konrad Fey, a 14th-century farmer and landowner from the village of Hohenroda in Hesse, central Germany. His descendants continued to use the surname for generations, with members of the Fey family appearing in various records and chronicles throughout the following centuries.

In the 16th century, the name Fey was also found in parts of Switzerland, likely carried there by German immigrants or traders. One notable Swiss bearer of the name was Hans Fey, a farmer and vintner from the village of Twann, near Biel, who was born in 1532 and died in 1601.

Another historical figure with the surname Fey was Johann Fey, a German theologian and philosopher who lived from 1636 to 1701. He was born in Herborn, Hesse, and served as a professor of philosophy at the University of Giessen.

As the centuries passed, the Fey surname continued to be found across Germany and in German-speaking regions of Europe. Other notable individuals with this last name include the 19th-century German painter and lithographer Eduard Fey (1808-1877), and the early 20th-century German writer and dramatist Emil Fey (1878-1950).

Sourced from namecensus.com.

1881 census detail

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Fey families in the 1881 census

These tables use 1881 census entries for people recorded with the Fey surname. Use the location tables for concentration, then the name and occupation tables for the people behind the surname.

Top counties

Total is the county count. Frequency and index adjust for local population size, so they are better concentration signals. Devon leads with 93 Feys recorded in 1881 and an index of 21.50x.

County Total Index
Devon 93 21.50x
Middlesex 36 1.73x
Gloucestershire 21 5.15x
Surrey 14 1.38x
Cheshire 7 1.53x
Durham 7 1.13x
Yorkshire 7 0.34x
Fife 5 4.07x
Hampshire 4 0.94x
Somerset 4 1.20x
Wiltshire 4 2.18x
Kent 3 0.42x
Lancashire 3 0.12x
Sussex 3 0.86x
Dorset 1 0.73x
Essex 1 0.24x

Top districts and towns

Districts give a more local view than counties. Total shows raw records, while frequency and index show local concentration. Plymouth St Andrew in Devon leads with 20 Feys recorded in 1881 and an index of 60.02x.

Place Total Index
Plymouth St Andrew 20 60.02x
Bristol St George 13 68.97x
Southwark St George Martyr 13 31.09x
St Giles Cripplegate 10 362.32x
Exeter St Thomas The 8 181.41x
Shoreditch London 8 8.88x
Tormoham 8 43.72x
Birkenhead 7 19.15x
Bishopsteignton 7 853.66x
Shobrooke 7 1521.74x
St Pancras London 7 4.19x
Stranton 7 33.64x
Exeter St Edmund 5 537.63x
Exeter St Sidwell 5 50.51x
Forgan 5 211.86x
Shipley 5 46.82x
Bristol St Philip Jacob 4 10.42x
Crediton 4 97.56x
Exeter Allhallows On The 4 563.38x
Exeter St George The 4 833.33x
Mile End Old Town London 4 9.05x
Westbury 4 93.24x
Bristol St Paul In 3 27.62x
Stoke Canon 3 1000.00x
Birling 2 317.46x
Chailey 2 183.49x
Clist Honiton 2 952.38x
Exeter Bedford Circus 2 2000.00x
Islington London 2 0.99x
Norton Fitzwarren 2 425.53x
Preston 2 3.03x
South Stoneham 2 21.65x
Totnes 2 79.05x
Tottenham 2 6.04x
Yatton 2 153.85x
Battersea 1 1.31x
Brighton 1 1.42x
Chapel Allerton 1 32.47x
Clifton 1 4.85x
Colebrooke 1 200.00x
Cornworthy 1 333.33x
Deptford St Paul 1 1.83x
Ermington 1 63.69x
Everton 1 1.27x
Exeter Heavitree 1 31.06x
Exeter St David 1 27.10x
Exeter St John 1 322.58x
Exeter St Lawrence 1 303.03x
Fulham London 1 3.32x
Harwick St Nicholas 1 153.85x
Kenton 1 73.53x
Kirkleatham 1 35.97x
Lyme Regis 1 61.35x
Okehampton 1 61.35x
Plymouth Charles The 1 5.25x
Sopley 1 169.49x
St Andrew Holborn London 1 11.11x
St Mary Kalendar 1 112.36x
Stoke Newington London 1 6.18x
Tiverton 1 13.42x
West Teignmouth 1 30.21x

Top female names

These are the female first names most often recorded with the Fey surname in 1881. Names are not merged, so initials, variant spellings and transcription quirks can appear as separate rows.

Name Count
Mary 17
Sarah 8
Elizabeth 7
Ann 6
Annie 4
Eliza 4
Ellen 4
Ada 3
Catherine 3
Edith 3
Martha 3
Winifred 3
Agnes 2
Dorcas 2
Emma 2
Florence 2
Gertrude 2
Helen 2
Lucy 2
Maria 2
Beatrice 1
Blanche 1
Bridget 1
Caroline 1
Christina 1
Clara 1
Eliz.H. 1
Elizth. 1
Emily 1
Emmey 1
Ensie 1
Frances 1
Franceska 1
Hannah 1
Harriet 1
Jessie 1
Kate 1
Louisa 1
Mabel 1
Mar. 1
Margaret 1
Matilda 1
Maud 1
Minnie 1
Nellin 1
Rachel 1
Rhoda 1
Rosanna 1
Selina 1
Wilhelmina 1

Top male names

These are the male first names most often recorded with the Fey surname in 1881. Names are not merged, so initials, variant spellings and transcription quirks can appear as separate rows.

FAQ

Fey surname: questions and answers

How common was the Fey surname in 1881?

In 1881, 208 people were recorded with the Fey surname. That placed it at #12,511 in the surname rankings for that year.

How common is the Fey surname today?

The latest modern count shown here is 311 in 2016. That gives Fey a modern rank of #14,376.

What does the Fey surname mean?

Derived from Middle English, referring to someone with supernatural abilities or a connection to fairy folklore.

What does the Fey map show?

The map shows local surname concentration for the selected year. Darker areas have a stronger concentration of Fey bearers relative to the surrounding population.

What records is this surname page based on?

The historical counts come from census surname records. The modern counts and neighbourhood summaries come from later surname distribution records. Counts are recorded bearers in those records, not a live estimate of everyone with the name today.