Fee
A surname with at least two likely roots: in some cases it comes from the Old French/feudal word for a fief or estate, and in others it may be an Anglicized Irish surname.
The #5,394 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 47,845 Americans shares it.
Etymology
In the English tradition, Fee is tied to the feudal word for a fief or estate, ultimately from Old French and medieval legal usage. It could have arisen as a name for someone connected with a fee-held property or with land described in such terms. In Ireland, however, Fee is also used as an Anglicized form of Irish surnames such as Mac Fiaich, so the same spelling can reflect a different origin there.
History
Lower explicitly glosses Fee as a feudal possession and notes place-names like Bassetts Fee and Neville's Fee, showing its legal-landholding sense in English records. That meaning could easily have generated a surname in some families. In Ireland, the spelling Fee is also found as an Anglicized surname, so modern bearers may descend from either English or Irish lines depending on family history.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
The word fee in the older English legal sense did not mean a payment; it meant a piece of land held under feudal obligation.
From the historical record
“one in his cap. FEE. A feudal possession. Sometimes certain lands obtained this name, e. g. Bassetfs Fee, Neville's Fee. FEETUM. A corruption of Feetham, a local name. FEIST. German ; fat. Feste. H.R. FELBRIGGE. A parish in Norfolk, where tlie familv resided temp. Edward I. De Felbrigg, H.R.”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom