Barnabee, Barnaby

Variants Barnaby, Barnabee. A locality name meaning 'of Barnby', a place in England. This name is of English descent and is found in many ancient manuscripts in the above country. Examples of such are a Eustace Barneby, who was recorded in the University of Oxford, in the year 1621 and a Thomas Barnaby and Margaret Wallop, were granted a marriage license, in London, in the year 1524. Names were recorded in these ancient documents to make it easier for their overlords to collect taxes and to keep records of the population at any given time. When the overlords acquired land by either force or gifts from their rulers, they created charters of ownership for themselves and their vassals. Other examples of this name were found in the person of a John Barnabee who was buried in Saint James Clerkenwell, in the year 1665 and a John Barnaby and Elizabeth Tree, were married in Saint George, Hanover Square, in the year 1756.