Ron and all, One of my granddaughters asked me yesterday the origin of the Colby surname. I never really looked into in detail since there seems to be so much speculation on all surnames and their origins. Anyway I did a quick Google search and found these entries. Anyone else have something different? Surname: COLBY "Colby" surname origin England name This interesting surname is locational from "Colby", a place in Norfolk and Westmorland, and "Coleby" in Lincolnshire, so called from the Old Norse personal name, "Koli", a by-name for a person of swarthy appearance, from "kol" (char) coal, and the Old Norse "byr", settlement. Colby in Norfolk was recorded as "Colebei" (Domesday Book 1086) in Linconshire) COLBY Gender: Masculine Usage: English Pronounced: KOL-bee  [key] >From a surname, originally from various English place names, derived from the Old Norse nickname Koli (meaning "coal, dark") and býr "town" Colby is a place name deriving from the parish of Coleby, which lies seventeen miles northwest of Semperingham, and six miles south of Lincoln. There is also a parish of Colby in Norfolk, next to Beccles, and it too seems to have been the source of a quite unrelated Colby clan. There are also villages called Colby in Westmoreland, in Yorkshire, and one in Denmark. The name is of Viking origin and means coal place. There are a number of places in England containing Cole, such as Coleridge, Colclough, and Colebrook. The by- suffix is the Viking word meaning homestead or farm. Thus, Coleby was probably a farmstead where charcoal was made in ancient times by Viking settlers. Bob Colby