New Post
Search
Help
ArchivesSpicey
The name SPICEY appears as a female name in several old wills I have seen.
I have also seen it used for the name of a mare.
Does anyone know of the etymology and/or history of this first name?
Are there any other uses for this name other than the above?
Are there any locations (cities, towns, etc.) named Spicey?
John
I have also seen it used for the name of a mare.
Does anyone know of the etymology and/or history of this first name?
Are there any other uses for this name other than the above?
Are there any locations (cities, towns, etc.) named Spicey?
John
1
Replies
She's one spicey chica.
1
Oddly, I have seen two similar names in old census records. Icie and Jicey. Spelling varies a bit. These show up in the southern US. In the case of Jicey, I have come to suspect her name was actually Joyce and she was perhaps called "Joycey. Jicey, I think might just have been how they pronounced it. And spelling being what it was back then, it was written down as pronounced. I'm still unsure about Icie, but I wonder if there is a similar evolution of that name. I've not heard of Spicey.
1
My second great grandmother, SPICEY Ellis Dew was born in about 1841 in NC. I thought it was just an oddity until I purchased a genealogy book with records from the 1860 census of Wilson County, NC. There are 16 women named "Spicy/Spicey" listed with birth dates ranging from 1811 to 1873. About half are white and half are African American. While it wasn't a popular name by any means, I was still surprised to find others who shared this name from different families. I have no idea how Spicey came to be used as a name. Thanks for any insights.
1
It's more widespread than that, there are records in Texas (1854), and as far back as 1799 at least. One source asserts that it's a slave name, taking "Spicey" from a nickname given by the owner, but your genealogy book would seem to refute that. It's now rare, but there are a few women named Spicey still, although it's perhaps more popular with authors than parents.
1