Garmans

This unusual and interesting name is of Anglo-Saxon origin, and derives from an Old English pre 7th Century male personal name, "Garmund", composed of the elements "gar", spear, and "mund", protection. The early medieval development of the name was "Gormund", recorded in the Somersetshire Curia Rolls of 1208 in the Latinized form of "Gormundus". In some cases the modern surname "Garman" may be a variant form of "Gorman", which can be either an Anglo-Saxon topographical name for someone who lived by or on a triangular patch of land, derived from the Old English "gara", from "gar", spear, referring to the shape of the spearhead, or it can be an Anglicized form of the Irish Gaelic "O Gormain", a personal name from "gorm", blue. The marriage of Alice Garman to Thomas Bland was recorded at St. Gregory's by St. Paul's, London, onJuly 12th 1590. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Alanus Garmundus, which was dated 1177, in the "Norfolk Pipe Rolls", during the reign of King Henry 11, known as "The Builder of Churches", 1154 - 1189. 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.