Da Costa

This interesting surname, with the variants Cote, Lacoste, Delacoste and Delacote, is a Venetian form of the French surname Coste, which is either a locational name from any of the places called Coste in France, or a topographical name for someone who lived on a slope or riverbank, and less often on the coast, deriving from the Olde French "coste" (Latin "costa" meaning "rib, side, flank", used in a transferred topographical sense). The surname dates back to the early 18th Century (see below). Church records include Elizabeth, daughter of Elizabeth and Benjamin Dacosta, who was christened on September 2nd 1739, and their daughter Sarah, who was christened on October 18th 1740, both at St. Anne and St. Agnes, London. A Coat of Arms was granted to a Da Costa family consisting of three broken parts to the exterior on a gold shield. The crest being a reindeer passant proper. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Anthony Dacosta, who married Elizabeth Evans, which was dated 1738, in "St. Katherine-by-the-Tower", London, during the reign of King George 11, known as "The Last Warrior King", 1727 - 1760. 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.