Demaine

This interesting surname, of French origin, is a locational name from Maine, an ancient French province, with the prefix "de" meaning "from". The surname dates back to the early 13th Century (see below). Further recordings include Robert de Maine (1213), in the Curia Regis Rolls of Somerset. Church recordings include one Pierre Demain, a French Huguenot, who was christened on March 26th 1643, at Threadneedle Street, London, and Joannes Demaine, who was christened on August 4th 1668, at St. Martin in the Fields, Westminster, and Richard Demaine, who married Mary Wood on May 20th 1759, at St. James', Westminster. One James (aged 27 yrs.) and Michael (aged 29 yrs.) Demain, were famine emigrants who sailed from Liverpool aboard the "Patrick-Henry" bound for New York on April 5th 1847. A Coat of Arms was granted to a Demaine family which is divided quarterly red with a gold lion rampant in the first and fourth quarters and a series of silver lozenges in the second and third quarters with an escutcheon consisting of a gold charge with a blue cross. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Adam de Meine, which was dated 1205, in the "Pipe Rolls of Somerset", during the reign of King John, known as "Lackland", 1199 - 1216. 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.