Bushey
A surname most likely linked to the parish of Bushey in Hertfordshire, though some early writers also considered a Norman origin.
The #6,260 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 56,588 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Bushey is most likely a locational surname from Bushey, a parish in Hertfordshire, meaning simply someone who came from that place. The place-name itself is old and is usually connected with a wooded or bushy landscape, though the surname’s direct link is to the location rather than to the word “bush” itself. Nineteenth-century surname writers also noted a possible Norman source, but that view was not treated as certain.
History
The name appears in historical surname discussion chiefly as a place-based form associated with Bushey, Herts. It is less common than spellings such as Bussey, and some older sources suggest that at least one line may have been influenced by Norman immigration. In modern English-speaking records, Bushey is comparatively uncommon and seems to survive mainly as a regional surname in Britain and North America.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Bushey is also the name of a town in Hertfordshire, so the surname can be read as a direct “from Bushey” identifier.
From the historical record
“Bussey.^Local, *de Bussey,* or perchance * of Bushey/ a parish in CO. Hertford, near Watford. But there is evidence in favour of an immigration from Normandy (v. Lower, Patr. Brit. p. 47).”
— A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames (alternate scan)