Lount

This unusual surname is English, but of pre 7th century Norse-Viking origins. Recorded as Lunt, Lund, Lound, Lount, Lynt and possibly others, it is locational from one of the various places called Louth, Lund or Lunt, in different parts of the North and East Anglia. These were areas of England which were under Viking control or influence for several centuries upto the Norman Conquest of 1066. They all derive from the Old Scandanavian word "lunder", said to mean a grove or a copse, although others believe it to mean grassland. Locational surnames are often 'from' names. That is to say names given either the local lord of the manor and his descendants, or to people who left their original villages and moved somewhere else. A coat of arms associated with the name has the blazon of a gyronny of eight silver and blue, a black border engrailed charged with as many plates. Early examples of the surname recording include Geoffrey de Lund of Norfolk in the Tax Subsidy rolls of the year 1230, John del Lound of Suffolk in the similar rolls of 1327, John Lunt, also of Suffolk in the Hearth Tax registers of 1524, whilst Anne Lount married John Stone at the church known as St Katherines by the Tower (of London) in 1667. The first recorded spelling of the family name may be that of Ralph de la Lunde. This was dated 1183, in the Pipe Rolls of Yorkshire, during the reign of King Henry 11nd, 1154 - 1189. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.