LEE. Itself a surname, with the various modifications Atte-Legh (now Atlee) Lea, Ley, Lighe, Lye, &c., is undeniably the A- Sax. leak. It is, as Professor Leo observes, the equivalent of " the old I-Iigh German I6h, and corresponds literally (allowing for the recognized modification) with the Latiu hiois; but whilst leak may enclose a thicket, or indeed an actual wood, it has a yet more general meaning, and may denote such an open field as would be rendered campus.'' Williams's Translation, Treatise on Local Nomenclature, 1852. Lea, the modern English word, signifies, however, meadow, pasture, or grass land. Nor must it be forgotten that the A-Sax. leag or leah, has a totally different meaning, implying a territory or district in which a particular law or custom was in force. This term, varied in different M'ays, as lagv. levga, and lon-cy, Avas i-etained for centuries after the incoming of the Normans, to denote a particular liberty, franchise, or district, as the league of Battel Abliey, the lonry of Pevensey, the h)vcy of Tunbridge, &c. To some or all of these sources, we are indebted for a very large proportion of our local, and consequently of our family nomenclature in South Britain, for— " In Ford, in Ham, in Ley, and Ton, The most of English Snrnames run."

Lower, Mark A (1860) Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom. London: J.R. Smith. Public Domain.