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From a dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames we get :-
Voisey; v Vesey, of which it is an undoubted varient.
Vesey, Vezey Pheysey Voisey Vaizey Veasey , Local, de Veci or Vesci, Lower says, Robert de Veci assisted William I to conquer England and was rewarded with great estates in the counties of Northampton , Warwick and Lincoln. Ivo or John de Veschi was his near kinsman and from him in his female line descended Lord Vesey’s (Kelhams Doomsday); v. Patr. Brit. P366
Willemus de Vesci, 7 Hen II: pipe roll iv 23, Eustace de Vescy, Co Linc 1273. A Richard de Vescy, Co York, ibed 1512. John Veysey, or Vesey, or Voysye or Pheysey: Req Univ Oxford I,81, 1603 Walter Veysey, Co Devon: ibid. vol.ii pt.ii p266 1603-4 James Voyzey, Co Devon ibid p269
Other spelling of the names of the two students last mentioned are Voysey, Vesey, and Veisey (v index) For other instances, v Pheysey
London 1,1,1,1,1,0; Philidelphia2,2,0,0,01
From A Dictionary of British Surnames is listed: -
Vaisey, Vaizey, Vasey, Veasey, Veasy, Veazey, Vesey, Vezey, Veysey, Voisey, Voizey , Voysey, Voyzey, Facey, Faizey, Fasey, Feacey, Feasey, Feazey, Feesey, Foizey, Phaisey, Phasey, Phazey, Pheasey, Pheazey, Pheysey, Lenfestey:
Robertus Invesiatus, Lascivus 1086 DB (Ess); Robert Lenveiset 1131 Riev (Y); Thomas Le Envaiset c1150 ib.; Jordan Veiset, le Envaise 12th ib.; William le Enveise (Lenvesie) 1220 Cur (Nf); Adam le Veyse 1270 AssSo ; Robert le Enueysi 1277 ib.; Alice Vesy 1296 SRSx; Peter le Voyse 1327 SRC; Thomas Fecy 1327 SRSo; Beatrice a Vesy 1332 SRSX; William Veysy 1357 Crowland (C); Nicholas Vaysi 1386 AD iv; Robert Feysy 1395 NottBR; John le Vesie 1420 DKR 41; John Vasey 1456 NorwW (Sf); John Veysey, or Vesey, or Voysye, or Pheysy 1512 Oxon; Maud Fyseye 1541 W’stow wills (Ess); Christian Facy 1671 DWills; Phillip Veasy 1674 HTSf. In spite of Weekley’s correct explanation of Vaisey, Tengvik has repeated Bardsley’s confusion of the name with Vesey, True, there has been a late and occasional confusion between these surnames as in the 1524 Subsidy Roll for Suffolk where we find Vessy side by side with Vasy, Veysy and Vaysy, but all the above surnames undoubtedly derive from AFr enveise, OFr. envoisie ‘playful’, latinized in DB as invesiatus (cf MedLat. invasus ‘possesed by a demon’) and paralleled by lascivus ‘wanton’. As with FANT, the first syllable was lost, the meaning of the remaining Veyse was forgotten and the initial V frequently regarded as a dialectal pronunciation of F, hence Feasey, etc., and, with the spelling change of Ph for F, Phaisey, etc. The surname is common in all its forms except Lenfestey which is rare and preserves the fuller form with an intrusive medial t.
From Understanding English Surnames (pg 90 sir William Addison ….??)the following passage:
The common ending ‘y’ found in …………
….Similarly, the French nickname le enveise or envoisie, ‘playful, wanton’, became Vaisey, Voysey, or Vesey. No doubt the ease with which the final ‘y’ or ‘ey’ slips of the tongue accounts for the popularity of this ending.
In Origins of English Surnames (P H Reaney Rout…..as before) in a section on dialectal variations is the following
One broad distinction between north and south was their their treatment of of the consonants c, f and s. ( )The initial F in the south was pronounced V, which is now , at times reflected in the spelling: <eg> Venn, Fenn <etc etc>……….. The French nickname le enveise or le envoisie ‘playful, wanton’ is now found occasionally as Lenfesty, but has usually shed its first syllable and now appears in 28 variants in which the normal Vaisey, Voysey or Vesey alternates with Faizey, Foizey and Feasey or Phaisey, Pheysey and Pheazey.
