Clan History

The Bailey family has had Armorial registrations since the 1530's. The background of the family and name are as follows:

The Bailey surname comes from the old French Norman "bailli", which means an earthen mound and courtyard. Over time, the person in charge of the bailli became known as the "bailli" or bailiff. The term was used in England and Scotland as the Sheriff or Chief magistrate of a precinct (the latter is still in usage). The man who performed this service for the king was entered on early documents, together with his title.

With time the title became part of the man's name. When names were first written down, the first and last names were usually joined by prepositions or articles. These connecting words (like "at", "of", "son of", or "the") tell us something about the name that follows. Many of the early references to the Bailey name are preceded by "at" or "of", which indicates that the bailey was a place rather than an office. In ancient castles and fortifications, the area between the inner and outer walls (and court inclosed therein ) was known as the bailey. London's central criminal court is still called the old bailey.

William de (of) Bailli, who was mentioned in Scottish records between 1311 and 1312, was certainly not a bailie, but lived (or was kept) in the bailey. In France, the surname appears most frequently as Bailly. Bally is the form popular in Switzerland. In Scotland, Baillie predominates. English, Welsh, and Irish usualy spell it "Bailey", but spellings also include Baily, Bayley, and Baylie. (Apologies if we have left one out.)

As in all things dealing with Armorial bearings, Knighthood, and Nobility, these things are taken seriously and with real gravity. The Bailey name cannot be traced to a single first Bailey. Since Bailey denotes a location or position, there is not and cannot be a first of name that can be followed in a single line to ONLY one person. Therefore there exists more than one grant of arms to different families over hundreds of years.

We at this family of Bailey are the first to open the family up as a "Clan" under our old and venerable name Bailey. As the Chief of Arms of this "Clan", our household will accept any spelling or variant of Bailey. We now have a proper group under which to gather Baileys and their families. This 500-year-old line is now opened for greater usage outside the immediate family.