Tracy (name)

Tracy (; also spelled Tracey, Traci, Tracci, Tracee, Treacy or Tracie, or Trasci), is an English given name and surname. As a British personal name, it was originally adopted from Norman surnames such as those of the family de Tracy or de Trasci from Tracy-Bocage in Normandy, France. Derived from the Gaulish male name Draccios, or Latin Thracius ("of Thrace, Thracian"), and the well-identified Celtic suffix -āko ("place, property"), such Norman surnames themselves sprang from several Tracy place-names in France. The Irish surname Tracey, which may similarly have contributed to the adoption of the English personal name, is derived from the native Irish O'Treasaigh septs. The name is taken from the Irish word "treasach" meaning "war-like" or "fighter". It is also translated as "higher", "more powerful" or "superior". It may also be derived from the Irish word for three, with an association to the Tuatha Dé Danann. The first reference to the surname in the Irish annals was in 1008: "Gussan, son of Ua Treassach, lord of Ui-Bairrche, died." According to historian C. Thomas Cairney, the O'Tracys were one of the chiefly families of the Uí Bairrche who were a tribe of the Erainn who were the second wave of Celts to settle in Ireland between about 500 and 100 BC. As a given name for girls, Tracy is a traditional English hypocorism for the name Teresa.