Moreman

Recorded in several spellings including Moreman, Morman, Moorman, Merman, Mooring, Moreing and possibly others, this is an English surname. It is of pre 7th century origins and derives from the word 'mormann' meaning a marsh or fen dweller. Quite how or why there was such a distinction when much of the county was marshy is something of a mystery. It suggests that the literal meaning seven or more centuries ago was quite different to the modern translation. The fenmen lived as much by fishing as by agriculture, and may also have been more lawless. Much of the East Anglia region for instance, which is the area that in the past was mostly fen, was long considered to be outside of the kings writ. From the 13th century onwards successive kings and nobles employed Dutch engineers to drain the fens, and in so doing forced many to leave for the growing towns and cities. In this case the earliest known recording is that of Richard Moreing in the Subsidy Tax rolls of Worcester in 1275, Ralph le Moreman in the same tax subsidy rolls of 1287 but for the county of Suffolk, and some fifty years later that of William Moorman of the same county in 1327.