G'morning Jame,

And thanks for the reply.  The origins of my Surname were made less certain
t'other day by the surfacing of a French picture of a sign that said
"Maxstadt"  -  something I must have a detailed look at.


->    Ah, that's not as much of an issue for me;  at least, it wasn't until
I
-> found out about the family name "Klae".   I knew about the name
variation, on
-> my fathers side, of "Claye";  by tradition, we (my side of the Clay
family here
-> in the States) trace our lineage back to a "John Claye" of Derby, by way
of a
-> John Thomas Clay who come over to the "Virgina Colony" in the early
1600's. 
-> The family has spread out all of the place here since then...
-> 
->    I didn't know but vaguely thought that the family name might have
derived
-> from someone who worked with clay or who was from some area known for
the
-> mineral.  But then I ran across someone here with the family name of
"Klae",
-> which certainly sounds the same and appears to come from mainland
Europe... 
-> Which makes me wonder about just how long the "Claye's" had been around,
and
-> about Normans...

Mmmm ... what about "Cleay" and "Cleagh" ? 

Might be worthwhile having a google search for homonyms in and around Derby
and see what turns up ?

Best of luck with teasing it out further !

Miles.




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