Dace - Name

According to the famous Victorian etymologist Canon Charles Bardsley writing in the year 1880, this is an English surname. It is recorded as Dace, Daice, Dayce as well as possibly others, and is locational. Bardsley describes it as being from somewhere called Dayce, but he could not find such a place and neither can we one hundred and twenty years later. It is true that the first known recording is probably that of Avery de Dayce in the Hundred Rolls of landowners for the county of Cambridge in the year 1273, and the spelling of the name with the preposition "de" would certainly seem to prove that such a place existed. We are however of the opinion from fifteen years research experience that the accuracy of early medieval registers left a lot to be desired, and that the name could still be occupational. The dace is a small fish that was caught in great quantities in early times, and we believe that the name may refer to a dace fisherman or perhaps be a nickname for a small person. A more recent recording is that of George Dace who married Sarah Harrington at St Georges chapel, Hanover Square, Westminster, on May 12th 1803.