This surname is derived from a geographical locality. 'of Hussey.' Probably Heusse" in the department of La Manche. This surname is strongly represented in Southwest England.

Geoffrey Husey, Wiltshire, 1273. Hundred Rolls.

Reginald Husey, Wiltshire, ibid.

Hugo de Hussey, Rutland, 20 Edward I: Placita de Quo Warranto, temp. Edward I-III.

Elizabeth Hussey, 1538: Reg. Broad Chalke, Wiltshire.

Henricus Huszey, 1542: ibid.

1663. John Evans and Judith Husee: Marriage Lic. (Canterbury).

(Anglo-French-Teut.) 1 the French Houzé, a nickname for a Wearer of Leggings [from Old French house, a kind of high boot or legging (cp. mod. French houseaux, leggings, gaiters); O.H.Ger. hosa, a leg or foot covering] 2 confused with Hussey, q.v.

According to Stapleton's Rotuli Scaccarii Normanniae, Osbert de H., who was living in 1180, was so named from le Hozu, a fief in the parish of Grand Quevilly near Rouen. And one Henry de la Hosse or Heuze held, inter alias, the lands of Hosse. Ibid. Will, de Hosa occurs as witness to a deed of King Stephen soon after his accession. Ibid. In an old account of the Hussey family, the name is said to be "quasi de Hosa-from a boot or buskin," and the crest borne was a boot. Inf. Edw. Hussey, Esq., M.A. The ordinary latinization is Hosatus, 'hosed or booted,' but this is merely a pun, for the head of the family, who in the XII. cent. founded the abbey of Durford, co. Sussex, was otherwise written De Hoese-a plain proof that the name was of local origin.

Is found written De la Hossé or Heuzé, De Hosa, and De Hoese; and according to Stapleton's Rot. Scacc. Norm, was named from le Hozu, a fief in the parish of Grand Quevilly, near Rouen; and Lower says there is a place now spelt Heussé, dep. La Manche. The local name is without doubt from the French houssaie, a place where much holly grows, a holly grove.

Hussey is an ancient name in Somerset and Wilts, and further particulars concerning its origin will be found under "Wiltshire." Laurance Hussey of Wellington was one of the sufferers in the Monmouth rebellion of 1685: he was transported for ten years to Barbadoes (H.), and let us hope that he returned to witness the triumph of the Protestant cause.

Hussey is a very old surname both in Wilts and Somerset, having been represented in those counties in the 13th century by Husey and Huse (H. R.). From the mediæval Huse probably come the Wiltshire name of Howse and the Somerset name of House. However, the Husseys of Wilts were a powerful family during the 14th century, and traced their ancestry back to the Husees, of whom it is said that the original ancestor came over with the Conqueror. In Collinson's "Somerset" it is stated that in the beginning of the 17th century a family of gentry of the name of Hussey lived at Edmondham in Dorset.