Mompesson

This surname is of French origins, but in England is mainly associated with East Anglia. Recorded in the varied 'modern' spellings of Mumbeson, Mumberson and Mompesson, the name is an excellent example of how over the centuries, a combination of local or changing dialects and erratic spelling, can change its appearance. Although locational from the villages of Montpincon, found in the departments of La Manche and Calvados, Normandy, the changes to the English surname are such as to totally disguise the origin. The first recording of the surname is that of Philip de Munpincum in the rolls known as the Danelaw Calendar for Lincolnshire in the reign of King Henry 11nd (1154 - 1189). This is nearly a century after the Norman Invasion, and the name does not apparently appear in the famous Domesday Book of 1086, so it can only be conjecture as to what happened to the family during the intervening years. By the 14th century the spelling had metamorphasised to Mounpynson, Oliver de Mounpynson being vicar of Hasingham, Norfolk, in 1320, with another development to Mounpesoun, when Edward Mounpesoun was recorded in Cambridge in the Subsidy Rolls of the year 1327. By the 17th century and after the period of "Middle English", the surname began to assume its 'modern' form, with Edward Momperson marrying Jane Gardner at Canterbury, Kent in 1694, and Eleanor Mumberson marrying Arthur Nickalls at the church of St Helen's Bishopgate, city of London, on October 28th 1860.