Fulbrook

This interesting and unusual name is of medieval English origin and is locational from places called Fulbrook in Berkshire, Oxfordshire and Warwickshire. The early forms of these places are as follows;, "Fulebroch", (1169, The Pipe Rolls of Berkshire), "Fulebroc", (The Domesday Book of 1086 of Oxfordshire and Warwickshire), and derives from the Old English pre 7th Century "Ful", dirty and "broc", a brook or a stream, thus denoting perhaps a marshy water meadow choked with vegetation. During the middle ages, those migrating from their village of birth, often adopted the placename as a means of identification. Amongst the sample recordings of namebearers in Berkshire, one Amye, the daughter of Willyam Fullbrook was christened on December 1599 at Thatcham. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Gilbert de Fullebroke, which was dated in the Hundred Rolls of Oxfordshire, 1273, during the reign of King Edward l, known as "The Hammer of the Scots", 1272 - 1307. 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.