Pandey

Recorded as Pandie, Pandey, and sometimes Pundey, this is a rare and interesting surname. It is almost certainly locational, and probably originates from the village called Pandy in Gloucestershire, England, or from any of the four Pandy villages in Wales, such as Pandy in Merionethshire or Pandy in Monmouthshire. However, the surname is not recorded in the Welsh surname lists, Welsh names being predominently patronymics, although perhaps they just missed this one being so relatively rare. We believe that the place name refers to "pans" that is salt pans, and may have originally described a "salt pan island", although the reference to island may simply be descriptive for an area where salt was found. Locational surnames are usually "from" names. That is to say names given to people by their new neighbours, after they left their original homes, and as easy forms of identification. Spelling over the centuries being at best erratic and local dialects very thick, often lead to the creation of "sounds like" spellings. In this case 18the century examples of the surname recording from the city of London are those of John Pandie a christening witness at St Pancras Old Church, on October 22nd 1732, and William Pandey, a christening witness at St Dunstans in the East, Stepney, on January 18th 1764.