Storey
A surname with overlapping origins, most likely from Storr or Storer, and sometimes treated as a variant of Story.
The #2,635 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 22,587 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Historical surname writers give Storey more than one possible source. Some treat it as a diminutive or variant of Storr or Story, while others connect it with storer, a person who stored goods or managed a household store. Another thread links it to a nickname from an animal name, especially the stork, though the evidence is not fully settled.
History
The name appears in medieval English records, especially in northern counties such as Yorkshire. Nineteenth- and early twentieth-century surname scholars disagreed on whether it was chiefly a nickname, an occupational name, or a form of Story/Storr, so modern treatments usually keep the derivation cautious. It survives today as a well-established English surname and is especially familiar in Britain and countries of English settlement.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Some older surname dictionaries list Storey right beside Story, Storr, and Storer because medieval spellings often blurred those families together.
From the historical record
“11.25-7. STOREY! = Store (q.v.) -t- the E. dim. suff. STORIE i-e)y,-ie. Cp. Storrey. STORK (Eng.]) a nickname and sign-name from the bird [O.E. store - Scand. stork] Cp. Storck. STORKEY I = Stork (q.v.) -f- the E. dim. suff. -ey. ' J for Stftrkey, q.v.”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)