This interesting surname is either a topographical name for someone who lived in a forest glade, deriving from the Middle English, Old French "la(u)nde" meaning "glade", or a locational name from Launde in Leicestershire which is name with the same element. Finally, it is a topographical name derived from the Old English pre 7th Century "land" meaning "land". The suffix "y" means "dweller at". The surname has been found in Counties Kilkenny and Tipperary since the 13th Century, (see below). Patrick de la Launde was sherriff of Kilkenny in 1337. The most notable family of the name was Lande or de Launde of Keatingstown, County Kilkenny. The London church records include Margery, daughter of Edward Landy, who was christened at St. Lawrence, Poutney, on September 2nd 1573, Anne, daughter of William Landye, was christened at St. Botolph without Aldgate, on March 3rd 1593, and Richard Landy married Annes Ansill on October 8th 1594, at St. Giles, Cripplegate. one Jonathan Landy, aged 30, a famine emigrant, sailed aboard the Kalamazoo from Liverpool bound for New York on December 28th 1846. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of John Landa, witness, which was dated 1297, at Cashel, County Tipperary, during the reign of King Edward 1, known as "The Hammer of the Scots", 1272 - 1307. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.