Dayman Family History

From the Middle English personal name Dayman. It may be from an Old English *Dægmann perhaps a pet form of names in Dæg- ‘day’ or else a transferred use of the word in (ii) similar in usage to Old English Flotmann ‘sailor’ and Glīwmann ‘minstrel’. Alternatively, it may be a pet form of the Middle English personal name Day to which the hypocoristic suffix -man has been added.

Day is sometimes a short form of David but is also a 14th-century variant of Daw, a rhyming pet form of Ralph; compare Gilbertus Dawman 1379 in Poll Tax (Sedgeford Norfolk) and Willelmus Dawman' 1379 in Poll Tax (Humberton WR Yorks). See Day and Daw and for the suffix see Bateman, Hickman, Human, Pateman, Potman.

Some of the following early bearers may alternatively belong under (2). Perhaps for dairyman from Middle English daie ‘man in charge of dairy cattle’ + man ‘servant worker’. The addition of -man seems unnecessary if it is synonymous with daie but the definite article in the 1332 example indicates that in this case at least a Middle English noun is the source rather than a personal name.

‘Servant of a man named Day’. See Diamond. For some possible early bearers see also (1). From Middle English Dame An(n)e ‘Lady Anne’, probably a pet form of Annes (Agnes).

Compare Johanne Dameanneys 1381 in Poll Tax (Lechlade Gloucs). The bearer of the surname may have been a son or servant of Lady Anne. Whether this became a hereditary surname is unknown.