Show ContentsLaday History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

The ancient name of Laday finds its origins with the ancient Anglo-Saxon culture of Britain. It comes from a name for a person who worked as a servant of a noble lady as in ' the lady's man.' 1 2

However, another source has a different occupational background "a man who has the charge of a horse-load or of a pack-horse." 3 The name is "a Northern, particularly Yorkshire, surname." 1

Early Origins of the Laday family

The surname Laday was first found in Lincolnshire where Rannulf (le) Lauediman was recorded in the Feet of Fines for 1202. It is thought the same person was listed in Northumberland in the Curia Regis Rolls for 1214. Geoffrey le Leuediman was recorded in Yorkshire in the 13th century and Roger Ladyman was recorded in Hertfordshire in 1296. 4

The Yorkshire Poll Tax Rolls of 1379 has some interesting spelling variations in use at that time: Ricardus Ledyman; Johanna ye Laydimayden; and Johannes Serve-ledy. 2

Early History of the Laday family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Laday research. Another 207 words (15 lines of text) covering the years 1214, 1296, 1379, 1397, 1399, 1581, 1625, 1642, 1647, 1648, 1649, 1658, 1677, 1683, 1684, 1700, 1731 and 1787 are included under the topic Early Laday History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Laday Spelling Variations

Sound was what guided spelling in the essentially pre-literate Middle Ages, so one person's name was often recorded under several variations during a single lifetime. Also, before the advent of the printing press and the first dictionaries, the English language was not standardized. Therefore, spelling variations were common, even among the names of the most literate people. Known variations of the Laday family name include Ladyman, Ledyman, Ladymen, Laudyman, Lauediman, Laydimayden and many more.

Early Notables of the Laday family

Distinguished members of the family include Samuel Ladyman, (1625-1684), English divine, Archdeacon of Limerick, Ireland. He was the son of John Ladyman of Dinton, Buckinghamshire. He entered Corpus Christi College, Oxford, as a servitor 3 March 1642, graduated B.A. on 13 July 1647, was made fellow by the parliamentary visitors in 1648, and graduated M.A. on 21 June 1649. In May 1658 he was one of some thirty ministers summoned to Dublin by...
Another 72 words (5 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Laday Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Ireland Migration of the Laday family to Ireland

Some of the Laday family moved to Ireland, but this topic is not covered in this excerpt.
Another 52 words (4 lines of text) about their life in Ireland is included in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Migration of the Laday family

For political, religious, and economic reasons, thousands of English families boarded ships for Ireland, the Canadas, the America colonies, and many of smaller tropical colonies in the hope of finding better lives abroad. Although the passage on the cramped, dank ships caused many to arrive in the New World diseased and starving, those families that survived the trip often went on to make valuable contributions to those new societies to which they arrived. Early immigrants bearing the Laday surname or a spelling variation of the name include : Abigall Ladyman, who sailed to Virginia in 1695; and John Ladyman to Nova Scotia in 1749.



  1. Harrison, Henry, Surnames of the United Kingdom: A Concise Etymological Dictionary Baltimore: Geneological Publishing Company, 2013. Print
  2. Bardsley, C.W, A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames: With Special American Instances. Wiltshire: Heraldry Today, 1901. Print. (ISBN 0-900455-44-6)
  3. Charnock, Richard, Stephen, Ludus Patronymicus of The Etymology of Curious Surnames. London: Trubner & Co., 60 Paternoster Row, 1868. Print.
  4. Reaney, P.H and R.M. Wilson, A Dictionary of English Surnames. London: Routledge, 1991. Print. (ISBN 0-415-05737-X)


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