New Post
Search
Help[Facts] Re: I need the meaning of the name kelsey
in reply to a message by Amber
The date given for the change doesn't fit. German Americans didn't feel as much pressure to assimilate and downplay their German roots until WWII (unlike the UK where families changed their surnames around WWI). More likely Giesey was being continually mispronounced /djeesee/, and William changed it Kiesey to better approximate the pronunciation for English speakers (G and K are a voiced/unvoiced pair which are often allophones in many languages).
If it originated as a short form of Giesel it could have begun as a surname without any shortening of a dithematic personal name, either from the name of river in Saxony, or a variant of Geisel/Geißel, "hostage, guarantee, pledge" or the homonym Geisel/Geißel "whip, crop, scourge" (originally a short staff or cane, a symbol of office in Lombardy).
If it originated as a short form of Giesel it could have begun as a surname without any shortening of a dithematic personal name, either from the name of river in Saxony, or a variant of Geisel/Geißel, "hostage, guarantee, pledge" or the homonym Geisel/Geißel "whip, crop, scourge" (originally a short staff or cane, a symbol of office in Lombardy).
1