Le Blond

This name derives from the Old French "blund" or "blond,", ultimately from the Latin "blondus" meaning "blond, fair or yellow-haired" and was originally given as a nickname to one with blond hair or a fair complexion. The surname is first recorded in the latter half of the 11th Century, (see below). One, Robert se Blund appears in "The Old English Byname Register", under the date 1100, and a Ralph le Blund in "Documents relating to the Danelaw", Leicestershire, circa 1100. The French definite article "le" precedes all recordings of the name in the Hundred Rolls of various counties, dated 1273, for example, Margareta le Blound (Cambridgeshire), and Alan le Blund, (Oxfordshire). This name was re-introduced into England with the arrival of the French Huguenots from the early 17th Century as the following recordings from London Church Registers show: Pierre Le Blond christened in Threadneedle Street French Huguenot Church on August 9th 1612 and Robert Le Blond christened in the French Huguenot Church, The Artillery, Spitalfields. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Rodbertus Blondus, which was dated 1086, The Domesday Book (Devonshire), during the reign of King William 1, "The Conqueror", 1066 - 1087. 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.