Survey of English Place-Names

Historical Forms

• Bebi 1086 DB c.1125 Ord 1199 GildR 1316 Pap 1327 SR

• Bebia c.1130 LeicSurv

• Beby 1209×19,1220 RHug 1300 LCDeeds 1302 RTemple 1553 Pat 1576 LibCl

• Bebe 1518 Visit 1527 LWills 1536 ISLR

• Beybe 1527 LWills

• Beebie 1603 LibCl 1610 Speed

• Beeby 1620 LeicW

• hundredum de Bebia c.1130 LeicSurv

Etymology

'The village where bees are kept', v. bēo , bȳ . The forms clearly indicate that it is the OE  word bēo rather than its ON  cognate bý 'a bee' which constitutes the first element of the place-name as it has survived.The DB valuation of Beeby is high, equivalent to that of the important manor of Queniborough. It is probable that Beeby was an English settlement taken over and partly renamed by Scandinavians. Note also hundredum de Bebia c.1130 LeicSurv, which suggests that shortly after DB it had become an administrative centre of some kind and was thus a vill of significance.