Forsdyke

This unusual name is an English locational surname of Anglo-Saxon origin, from the place called "Fosdyke" in Lincolnshire. The placename is first recorded as "Fotesdic" in 1183 and means "Fot's dyke", derived from the Old English pre 7th Century byname "Fot", foot or its Old Norse equivalent "Fotr" with "dic" meaning a ditch or a dyke. Locational surnames were dispersed around the country when the former inhabitants of a place went to live or work in another town or county and were identified by their original home names. The modern surname has a number of different forms, from Fosdyke, Forsdike and Forsdyke to Forsdick and Frosdick, the latter found mainly in Norfolk. Elizabeth, daughter of Jonas and Mary Forsdyke, was christened at Trimley St. Mary in Suffolk on March 21st 1796. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Walter de Fotesdik, witness, which was dated 1202, The Lincolnshire Assize Rolls, during the reign of King John "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.