Orbey History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

The surname Orbey was first found in Lincolnshire at Orby, a village and civil parish in the marshes of the Lincolnshire coast. The place dates back to the Domesday Book where it was listed as Heresbi, land held at the time by the Bishop of Durham. By 1115, the place name had evolved to Orreby and literally meant "farmstead or village of a man called Orri," derived from the Old Scandinavian personal name + "by." 1

The Hundredorum Rolls of 1273 included: Geoffrey de Orby, Huntingdonshire; and John de Orby, Huntingdonshire, 2 and the Testa de Nevill, sive Liber Feodorum, temp. Henry III-Edward I. included: Fulco de Orreby, Lincolnshire; and Robert de Orreby, Nottinghamshire. 3

The Orbel or Orbell variants were derived from the Latin form Orabilis which was first recorded in the Curia Regis Rolls for Kent in 1221. Later in Kent, Orbla and Orble were listed in 1243 and in Essex, we found Orbalia in the Feet of Fines for 1273. In Staffordshire, Orabella was listed in the Assize Rolls for 1275 and in the Cambridgeshire, John Orable was listed in the Hundredorum Rolls for 1279. In Suffolk, Adam Orbel was listed in the Subsidy Rolls for 1327. 4