Lodge

This interesting surname is of early medieval English origin, and is a topographical name from residence in a small cottage or temporary dwelling. The derivation is from the Middle English (1200 - 1500) "logge", a development of the Old French "loge", cabin, place to rest in. Topographical surnames were among the earliest created, since both natural and man-made features in the landscape provided easily recognisable istinguishing names in the small communities of the Middle Ages. The term "logge" was used in particular of a cabin erected by masons working on the site of a major construction project, such as a church or cathedral, and may consequently have also been a type of occupational nickname for a mason. The Middle English "atte Logge", attached to a personal name, often denoted the warden of the masons' lodge. Early examples of the surname include: Adam atte Logge (Suffolk, 1327); Johannes del Loge (Yorkshire, 1379); and Thomas Lodge (the Oxford University Register, 1520). A Coat of Arms granted to Sir Thomas Lodge, Lord Mayor of London, 1562, is a blue shield with a silver lion rampant crusily fitchee gules (strewed over with red crosses), within a border flory of the second. A demi lion rampant, couped black, holding in the paws a red cross pattee fitchee is on the Crest. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Roger de la Logge, which was dated 1304, in the "Close Rolls of London", 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.