2,141 Global Tansey Family Members

Tansey Family History

Recorded in many spelling forms including Tansey, Tansie, Tansye, Tansley, Tanslie and Tansly, this is an English surname. It was originally locational, and described a former inhabitant of the village of Tansley, in the county of Derbyshire. Tansley itself is a development of the Olde English pre 7th century word "tan" meaning branch, as in a branch off from a main valley or dale, and "leah," a fenced enclosure or more likely a farm in a forest. First recorded in the famous Domesday Book of 1086 as Teneslege, the village is in an area of the country, which although remote, was greatly affected by the infamous plague of the 1660's known as the Bubonic Plague, and many people fled the area never to return.