Mapledorum

Found in the spellings of Mapledoore, Mapledorum, and Mapledoram, this rare and interesting surname is locational. It appears to derive from the two villages of Mapledurum in Hampshire and Berkshire, but this may not be so. It is possible that the origin is the village of Maplesdon in Kent, (the village names all mean the same - the place of the Maple), and all appear in the 1086 Domesday Book as 'Mapledresham'. However the place names appear many centuries before any known surname recordings. This would suggest that at sometime around the mid 16th century, some at least of the inhabitants, probably those dispossessed by the Enclosure Acts and the loss of common grazing rights, went to London. Here they were given the name of their former village(s) as their surname identity, but spelling and education being lax, and local dialects being 'thick', some transposition occurred. Certainly as shown below the earliest name spelling was as 'Mapleder', and this was followed by 'Mapledoore', Elizabeth Mapledoore being recorded at St Dionis Backchurch, London on October 18th 1624. The later recordings show the change to the new spelling, although we are unable to discover why these took place. A good example is that of James Mapledorum who married Sarah Jolley at St Giles Church, Cripplegate, London on April 25th 1824, exactly two centuries later. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Alice Mapleder, which was dated June 24th 1580, christened at St Botolphs Bishopgate, London, during the reign of Queen Elizabeth 1, known as 'Good Queen Bess', 1558 - 1603. 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.