Enticott

This interesting surname is of Anglo-Saxon origin, and is a locational name from some minor, unrecorded, or now "lost" place, called Enticott or Endicott, believed to have been situated in Devonshire because of the high incidence of early surname recordings from that county. The component elements of the placename are the Old Norse "endi", end, and the Olde English pre 7th Century "cot", translating variously as "cottage, woodman's hut, shelter for wayfarers". The prime cause of medieval village disappearance was the enforced clearing of rural settlements, and the consequent dispersal of the former inhabitants to make way for sheep pastures at the height of the wool trade from the 14th Century on, along with natural causes such as the Black Death of 1348, in which an eighth of the population perished. The surname appears in Devonshire Church Registers from the mid 16th Century under the variant spellings Endecott, Endacott, Endcott, Endycott, Entecott, Enticott and Yendacott. On June 5th 1579, Agnes, daughter of Nicholas Enticott or Endacott, was christened at Axminster, and on August 1st 1617, William Enticott married Margaret Smyth, also at Axminster. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Nyclolas Endecott, which was dated January 20th 1561, marriage to Margerett Darch, at Kenn, Devonshire, during the reign of Queen Elizabeth 1, known as "Good Queen Bess", 1558 - 1603. 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.