Laffoley-Lane

The development of double-barrelled surnames is essentially a Victorian institution, although one which is still gaining in popularity. There are two main reasons for its development: romance and property protection, in most cases it is necessary to examine the original wills to truly identify the reason. In this instance we have an Anglo-French onjunction, Laffoley being a form of Lafolie or Lafollye, a hamlet in Northern France. the placename means "the madness", and why any place should be known as this is not known, but presumably refers to some long lost incident in history. Name recordings include: Nicholas Lafollie, who married Marie Viot at Chilly, Ardennes, on October 24th 1663, whilst on May 28th 1860, Jane Laffolley married Charles Harrison at Christ Church, Southwark, London. The surname of Lane is one of the oldest on the British register, which is not surprising as it is residential, a development of the Olde English "lanu", and describes one who lived at a lane, an original narrow passage between buildings. The earliest recordings are pre 1066 (see below), whilst Ralph de la Lana was recorded in the Pipe Rolls of Kent (1176); Osbertus in Lane (1212, Surrry); and Roger de la Lane (1279, Staffordshire). The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Aetheric des Langa, which was dated 972 A.D., in the "Old English Byname Rolls for Northumberland", during the reign of King Edgar of England, 959 - 975. 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.