This surname is derived from a geographical locality. 'de Veci' or Vesci. Lower says,' Robert de Veci assisted William I to conquer England, and was rewarded with great estates in the counties of Northampton, Leicester, Warwick, and Lincoln. Ivo or John de Veschi was his near kinsman, and from him in the female line descended Lord Vesey' (Kelham's Domesday); v. Patronymica Britannica.

Willelmus de Vesci, 7 Henry II: Pipe Roll.

Eustace de Vesey, Lincolnshire, 1273. Hundred Rolls.

Richard de Vesey, Yorkshire, ibid.

1512. John Veysey or Vesey, or Voysye, or Pheysy: Register of the University of Oxford.

1603. Walter Veysey, Devon: ibid.

1603-4. James Voyzey, Devon: ibid.

Other spellings of the names of the two students last mentioned are Voysey, Vesey, and Veisey (v. Index). For other instances, v. Pheysey.

(Anglo-French-Latin) belonging toVessey (Manche, (Norm.; also Burgundy), prob. corresponding to the South. French Vissac, M.Latin Vitiacum = the Estate of Vitius [the Roman name Vitius, m., Vitia, from, is from Latin vita, life: -ác-um is the Latin-Gaul. possess. suff.] Richard de Vescy.—Hundred Rolls John Vessy.—Inq. ad q. Damn., tp. Hen. VI.

Apparently there has been no confusion with Vassy.

An English name of French derivation which has no less than 28 variant forms in England. In Co. Mayo, where it is fairly numerous, it is said to be a synonym of MacVeigh, q.v. MIF 236*

(English) One who came from Vessey (estate of Vitius), the name of places in Normandy and Burgundy.

Robert de Veci assisted William I. at the Conquest of England, and was rewarded with great estates in the counties of Northampton, Leicester, Warwick, and Lincoln. Ivo or John de Veschi was his near kinsman, and from him, in the female line, descended Lord Vesey. Kelham's Domesday. A branch of the family, in the Irish peerage, bear the title of Viscount de Vesci.

Local. Wet or fenny land, near the water, subject to inundation; the same as Fossey. Cornish-British, Vosey, the ditch or fort near the water.

Or De Vesci, a baronial name. The elder branch of the family of De Burgh. Serlo de Pembroke, or de Burgh, who appears to have been one of those who accompanied Arnulph de Montgomery to the conquest of Pembroke c. 1090, was high in favour with Henry I., and held from him Burgh and Knardesburgh, Yorkshire (Rot. Pip. 31 Hen. I.; Mon. i. 743). He had a son, Osbert, who was d. before 1130 (Rot. Pip.), when Eustace, son of John, brother of Serlo, was constituted his heir. Osbert, his nephew, had been justiciary with him in York before 1130 (Rot. Pip.). He was probably ancestor of the Lords Pons, or Poyntz, of Gloucester. It appears that Serlo and John his brother, and a third brother (the father of Osbert), were sons of Osbert Fitz-Pons, or De Pons, who is mentioned t. William I. See Clifford. Eustace Fitz-John above mentioned m. the heiress of Vesci, and acquired with her the barony of Alnwick. His son assumed the name of Vesci. It is needless to state the details of the history of this family, which appear in Dugdale and Banks. On the extinction of the direct male line 1295, the next heir male was descended from William de Vesci, brother of Eustace II. and of Warm (whose descendant in the female line, John de Aton, inherited the estates). William paid a fine 1199 in Northumberland (Hodgson, iii., iii., 65); and occurs again there in 1200 (Ib. 74). In 1348 Alicia was widow of William de Vesci (Ib. i., iii., 76). In 1340 Robert Vesey occurs (Ib. iii., ii., 316); and in 1421 Agnes Vescy (iii., ii. 316). We next find the family in Durham; John Veysey being of Coniscliffe 1436, where the family bore the arms of De Vesci (Surtees, iii. 379). Another branch was of Newlands, Durham, c. 1500, from which descend the Viscounts de Vesci (Durham Visit. 1615).

A Norman name: From the Domesday Book, de Vesci.

Vesey: from Vassey, a fief in the Val de Vire, mentioned by Wace as at the Battle of Hastings, under the name of Waacee. Robert and Ivo were there present. Robert received a great barony in Northants, Warwick, Lincoln, and Leicester. The name remains as Vasey, Facey, Veysey, and Voysey. In the latter form I had a labourer working for me many years who could neither read nor write.