Ladd

This surname of English origin, is an occupational name derived from the middle English "Laddle" meaning "servant" or "man of humble birth", however, the modern meaning being "young man" or boy. The name dates back to the early 12th Century, (see below). Further recordings include Richard Ladde (circa 1175) "The English Feudal Names List, Northumberland", and Roger Ladde (1273), "The Subsidy Rolls of Huntingdonshire". Variations in the idiom of the spelling include Ladds, Ladson, etc.. One Laurence Laddes, son of John, was christened at st. margaret, Westminster on June 22nd 1572 and Elizabeth Ladd, daughter of Thomas was christened at St. Margaret Lothbury, London. A Coat of Arms was granted to a Ladd family and it consists of a gold shield which is divided horizontally across the centre by a black wavy fesse between three black escallops two in chief and one in base. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Godric Ladda, which was dated circa 1100, in the Old English Bynames of Somerset, during the reign of King Henry 1, known as "The Lion of Justice", 1100 - 1135. 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.