Gibbe

This name is one of the diminutive forms of the popular Medieval English personal name "Gilbert", which was introduced into England by the Normans after the Conquest of 1066. The Norman form of the name was "Gisleberth" in the Domesday Book of 1086. The name means "bright youth", and is composed of the adopted Germanic elements "gisil", noble youth, sometimes "hostage", with "berht", bright, famous. Gilbert became a very popular given name in England during the Middle Ages, partly through the fame of St. Gilbert of Sempringham (1085-1189), the founder of the only native English monastic order. As a personal name the diminutive form of Gilbert, "Gibb", is first recorded in the Pipe Rolls of Nottinghamshire of 1179, as Gibbe de Huckenhale. George Gibb married Katherine Gould on September 21st 1668, at Harefield, Middlesex.A Coat of Arms was granted to the Gibb(e) family and has the blazon of a silver shield thereon three halberts in fess sable, heads to the sinister. The crest being a Bengal tiger passant proper. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Winc Gibbe, which was dated 1290, in the Ancient Deeds of Norfolk, during the reign of King Edward 1, 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.