Dollimore

This unusual surname is a variant of the more familiar Delamar, itself of Norman-French origin, and a locational name from any of the various places in Normandy called La Mare, from the Old Norman-French "la", the, with "mare", pool, pond, and the fused preposition "de", of. The name was initially introduced into England following the Norman Invasion of 1066, and is first recorded in the early 12th Century (see below). Further early examples include: Coleman de Lamora (Northamptonshire, 1130), and Robert de la Mare (Suffolk, 1190). Later forms of the name result from the medieval English understanding of the surname as being derived from the Anglo-Norman French "de la", of the, with the Middle English "mere", pool, or "more", moor, thereby indicating residence by a pool, marsh, or moor. One William de la Mere, noted in the 1260 Feet of Fines for Essex, may derive his name from either source. Anglicized variants of the surname, in the modern idiom, range from Delamar(e), Delamere, Delamore and Dallimore, to Dillamore, Dol(l)amore and Dollimore. Some bearers of the modern surname may descend from a French Huguenot family who fled to Britain to escape religious persecution during the 17th and early 18th Centuries. Marie, daughter of Nicholas Da la Marre, was christened at the Threadneedle Street French Huguenot Church, London, on October 5th 1603, and on May 11th 1778, Elizabeth Dollimore and Benjamin Drinkall were married at St. Mary's, St. Marylebone Road, London. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Henry de Lamara, which was dated 1130, in the "Pipe Rolls of Oxfordshire", during the reign of King Henry 1, known as "The Lion of Justice", 1100 - 1135. 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.