Monnoyer

This name, with variant spellings Monnier, Mounoier, Moner etc., derives from the Old French "Monnaier", containing the element "Monnaie", meaning coins or currency, plus the agent suffix "ier". The name was therefore occupational for a mint-master or maker of coins, and is first recorded in England in the latter part of the 13th Century, (see below). One, Walter le Monner appears in "The Close Rolls of London", dated 1292. The surname re-emerges in church registers of Kent and London from the beginning of the 17th Century with the influx of French Huguenot refugees fleeing from religious persecutions in their own country. On December 14th 1600, Elizabeth, daughter of Abraham Monnier, was christened in the Walloon or Strangers Church Canterbury, Kent. Jucic Moner, an infant, was christened in The French Huguenot Church, Threadneedle Street, London, on September 7th 1606, and on January 23rd 1625, Marie, daughter of Pierre Monnoyer, was also christened in above church. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Henry le Moneur, which was dated 1273 - "The Hundred Rolls of Shropshire", during the reign of King Edward 1, "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.