Hrachovec

This Russian - Czechoslavakian name is job descriptive for a market gardener or a grower of vegetables. It derives from 'Hrach' meaning (literally) 'The Pea' and it is also found in the variant spellings of Hrasky, Hrachovec, and the habitational form of Growchowski, Grochock, and Grochulski, the latter forms being Russian. The name is recorded heraldically, appearing in the German register as 'Gorck' or 'Gorchen' and in a further variant as Hrochow. The latter being of Noble ancestry. The Coat of Arms is a Prancing Horse above a Castellated Battlement on a Red Field. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Edle Von Hrochow (of Germany), which was dated Pre 1680, The Heraldic Register of Europe, during the reign of Emperor Leopold I of the Holy Roman Empire 1668 - 1705. 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.