Tesmond

This interesting and unusual name recorded in various forms including Tesimon, Tesmond, Tesseyman, Tiseman, Tissiman, Tesmund, Tesman, and Tyssyman, is English. It derives from the pre 7th century Germanic personal name "Techmir", having as its first element "tech" meaning "comfort" . The addition of the suffix "man" to a personal name usually indicated "friend of"; to give the friend of Tess. Where it occurs a final "d" is an excrescent, added as an aid to pronunciation.Early examples of the surname recording taken from surviving rolls and registers of the late medieval period include: Thomas Tesmond, the sheriff of Norwich in 1559, and Oswald Tesimond (1563 - 1635), a jesuit, educated at Rome, who was charged with complicity in the "Gunpowder plot". However he managed to escape abroad, and later died at Naples. Other examples taken from the registers of the diocese of Greater London are those of George Tyssyman and Jane Bland who were married in St. James church, Clerkenwell, on May 28th 1628, whilst on February 15th 1753, Mary Tesseyman, was christened in St. Matthew's church, Bethnal Green. "Arms" granted to the family and recorded in Riestap's, "Armorial General" depicts a shield divided vertically red and silver, and charged with a deer's antler and a horn, the latter representing plenty. On of the earliest recordings of the family name is that of Bryan Tesyman. This was dated 1537, in the "Corpus Christi" records of the guilds of the city of York, during the reign of King Henry V111, 1509 - 1547. 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.