
- Lave Nye immigrated to from Sweden to Denmark according to Nye family tradition. He did not have a last name, so he used Nye, which is a Danish prefix for new, since he was a newcomer. He became a man of great prominence and in 1316 was the Bishop of Roskilde in the Sjelland Section. Source: Lexicon over Adelige Familier in Denmark, Norge og Hertogdommene.
There was indeed a Lave Ny who bore as his coat of arms the shield of a new moon on a blue background.
The Nye Family of America Association has endorsed and supported further genealogical research and decided that it is extremely unlikely that the English surname Nye has Danish roots. The Danish National Archives said they have no knowledge of any manuscript called the Necrologium Daniae Vetus, used to support the following relationship to Bertolf Nye.
- Bertolf Nye is mentioned in 1466 as the son of Nile Nye of Tudse (Necrologium Daniae Vetus). Bertolf had two sons James and Randolf. James had a duel with Tosig, son of Gytha, (Annales Daniac III, 135), from the consequences of which he fled to England accompanied by his younger brother Randolf and settled in Wiltshire, afterward removing to Hampshire.
"Dictionaries of British surnames establish that variatlons of the surname Nye were already in usage in England in the thirteenth century, i.e., Robert atteneye 1269, William Atteneye 1276; and a Gilbert de la Nye appears in 1315. The name is topographical in origin, meaning "from a residence near some low lying land." The usage arises from a mis-division of the Middle English (ca.1150-1 SOO) word atten(e)ye which means both "at the river" and "at the island." The usage evolved to atte nye, atte neye, and eventually Nye. Thus. it is extremely unlikely that the English surname Nye has Danish roots." - Origins of Benjamin Nye