Soady Family History

Perhaps from an unrecorded Middle English female personal name Soude or Soudy, Saude or Saudy, which could be pet forms of Isoud and Isaud, i.e. Isold (see Izzard). The final -y would represent either a typical Devon and Cornwall pronunciation of final -e or the Middle English hypocoristic suffix -y.

This explanation easily accounts for the variation between Soady and Sawdy in many Devon and Cornwall parishes. However, the absence of any medieval evidence for either the given name or the surname makes it an uncertain explanation.