Fawltey

This is a rare and interesting name of Medieval English origin. The first element "faut" is a dialectal variant of an unidentified French Surname probably introduced by Huguenot settlers during the 17th and 18th, when large numbers of immigrants sought refuge in England to escape religious persecutions. The derivation of the second element "ley", is from the Old English pre 7th Century "leah", meaning a wood or a clearing, thus indicating that the name is either topographical, or a so called "lost" village with this name. This phenomenon was a result of enforced land clearance, to make way for sheep pasture, and it is estimated that there are between seven and ten thousand such places that have disappeared from British Maps. One Ann Fautley was christened on 15th September 1799 at the Holy Trinity in the Minories, London. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Jean - Baptiste Fauletie, which was dated 1712, (Hanks and Hodges, London), during the reign of Queen Anne, known as the Last Stuart Monarch, 1702 - 1714. 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.