Theories on the origin of the Denny Name
One theory is that the earliest Dennys were Vikings or North Men who settled along the Normandy Coast of France. French history tells of a Danish Prince named Bernard, who, along with his cousin Rollo, settled in Normandy. Members of this Norman colony or settler of Danes were called the Danish Men or L'Denshmen or in French, L'Denne. Some of these early Denshmen migrated across the Channel and settled in southern England. Because of the unrest in the English countryside, many of the Surrey Dennys migrated to Ireland and Scotland. Many came to America in the late 1600s and early 1700s to escape hunger, unrest and religious persecution. Most of these people ended up in the Western Frontier, which was then Western Pennsylvania.
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