Survey of English Place-Names

Historical Forms

• Saxebi 1086 DB 1176 P 1198 Cur 13 WoCart 1449 BPR 1362

• Saxebia 1175 P

• Saxeby c.1141 Dugd 1150×59,1163 TutP c.1200 BrCart 14 Val 1254 Rut 1257 Pat 1348,1349 Cl 1376 GR 1380 FA 1428

• Saxenebi 1175 ChancR 1198 Cur

• Sessebia c.1130 LeicSurv

• Sessebi 1202 P

• Sauceby 1199 ib

• Sexeby 1220 Cur 1209×35 RHug 1245×64 BrCart 14 Pat 1338

• Saxby c.1200(14),1218×45(14) BrCart 1278 Coram a.1350 BrCart 1359 Pat

• Saxbye 1575,1576 LEpis 1576 LibCl 1576 Saxton

• Saxbye alias Sawsby 1577 LEpis

• Sawsby 1690 Terrier

• Sausby 1674,1679,1697 ib

Etymology

Either 'the farmstead, village of the Saxons' or 'Saxi's farmstead, village', v. bȳ . The common ON , ODan  pers.n. Saxi /Saksi may be the first el. of the name of this settlement, cf. Saxby All Saints, L 254.However, in view of the two surviving early forms in Saxenebi , more likely is the folk-name S(e)axe (S(e)axna gen.pl.), although by the date of such a name's formation, the Danes were unlikely to have been able to distinguish between Angles and Saxons. They no doubt used the two folk-names synonymously. W. Levison, England and the Continent in the Eighth Century (Oxford 1946), 92, observes that as early as the first half of the 8th cent., there did not seem to be any distinction between the use of the names in England. A continuing strong Anglo-Saxon presence in this area would account for such a name as neighbouring Wyfordby (q. v .). Nearby Brentingby may be of a similar construction to Wyfordby, with an early English p.n. compounded with bȳ . Also indicative of strong English presence here is the extensive late 6th cent. pagan Anglo- Saxon cemetery found near the railway station in 1823.