indicate the level to which a name has been verified.
Type Surname (from nickname)
Usage English
Meaning & History
Probably from a nickname for a showy dresser, from Middle English pe "peacock" (see Peacock) and body "body, person". Alternatively it may be from the name of a Celtic tribe meaning "mountain men" from Brythonic pea "large hill, mountain" combined with Boadie, the tribe's earlier name, which meant "great man" (or simply "man") among the Briton and Cambri peoples. According to legend, the Boadie were originally a group of Boadicea's kinsmen who migrated to the mountains of Wales after the Romans defeated her forces and she committed suicide.