Lovemore

This name, with variant spellings Lovemoore, Lovemore, Lovimer, etc. is of English locational origin from one of the estimated seven to ten thousand lost villages and hamlets that have now disappeared from the maps in Britain. The prime cause of these "disappearances" was the enforced "clearing" and dispersal of former inhabitants to make way for sheep pastures at the height of the wool trade in the 14th Century. Natural causes such as the Black Death of 1348, also contributed to the lost village phenomenon. The placename is composed of the Old English personal name Lufa plus "mor" meaning "moor", "fen", hence "lufa's moor". Recordings include one John Lovemore who was christened on July 12th 1726, at St. Martin in the Fields, Westminster, and Dorothea Ann, daughter of Robert and Dorothea Lovemore, was christened at Scotch Church, Swallor Street London, on August 5th 1787. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Zebedee Lovemore married Mary Fellows, which was dated 1725, St. Benet, Paul's Wharf, London, during the reign of King George 1, "The First Hanoverian", 1714 - 1727. 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.