Akker

This long-established surname is of Anglo-Saxon origin, and is a topographical name from residence by a plot of arable land, deriving from the Olde English pre 7th Century "aecer", cognate with the Old High German "acdkar", ploughed field, cultivated land, which became "acker" in Middle English. Topographical surnames were among the earliest created, since both natural and man-made features in the landscape provided easily recognizable distinguishing names in the small communities of the Middle Ages. Early examples of the surname include: Bartholomew de Acre, or Akers, bailiff of Norwich (1282); Adam de ACres (the London Calendar of Letter Books, dated 1346; and Johannes Acrys, entered with Roger Acres in the 1379 Yorkshire Poll Tax Returns Records. The first example quoted may also be specifically locational in origin from Castle, South, or West Acre (Norfolk). In the modern idiom the name has a number of spelling variations, ranging from Acres, Ackers and Acors, to Akers, Akess and Akker. On October 25th 1579, George Ackers and Jane Raynforth were marired at Farnworth near Prescot, Lancashire. A Coat of Arms granted to the Ackers family is a silver shield with three gold acorns, husked green, on a black bend, the Crest being a dove rising proper, in the beak an acorn of the arms, and the Motto: "La Liberte" (Liberty). The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of William del Acr', which was dated 1214, in the "Curia Regis Rolls of Sussex", 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.