Hydes

This unusual and interesting name is topographical and descriptive meaning the holder of a hide, and therefore someone living on and farming a piece of land originally named as a "hide of land". The derivation is from the Olde English pre 7th "hi(gi)d". A hide was quite a substantial amount in those days, although it varied at different times and places between sixty and one hundred and twenty acres. It seems to have been originally fixed as the amount of land necessary to support one extended family as the Olde English word for a household "higan" would seem to suggest a common etymology with "hi(gi)d", hide. There are a number of variants of the name in the modern idiom:- "Hide(s)", "Hyde(s)", "Hider", and "Hyder". The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Robert le Hider, which was dated 1309, in the Middle English Surnames 1100 - 1300, during the reign of King Edward 11, known as Edward of Caernafon, 1307 - 1327. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.