Flint

This interesting surname has a number of possible origins. The first of these derives from the Olde English pre 7th Century word "flint", and is a topographical surname denoting residence near a conspicuous outcrop of flint rock, while the second is derived from the same Olde English "flint" but used as a nickname to describe someone thought to be "flinty", hard-hearted. This use of the word is recorded as a personal name in the Domesday Book of 1086, as in "Flint", from Suffolk. Finally, the modern surname "Flint" can be locational in origin, deriving from the town of Flint in Clwyd, Wales, which gave its name to the old county of "Flints". Locational surnames were usually acquired by a local landowner, or by the lord of the manor, and especially by those former inhabitants of a place who had moved to another area, and were thereafter best identified by the name of their birthplace. One Thomas Flint was an early American settler; he is listed as living in the colony called "Burcke Row" in Virginia in February 1623. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of John Flint, which was dated 1248, in "Records of Bec Abbey", Oxfordshire, during the reign of King Henry 111, known as "The Frenchman", 1216 - 1272. 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.