Submitted Surname Revision 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.