Mutch

This name, with variant spelling Much and Muche, widespread today in Scotland and in the North of England, is of early medieval English origin, and derives from the Middle English (1200 - 1500) "moche" or "muche" meaning "great", and was originally given as a nickname to a large, tall person. The surname first appears on record in the latter part of the 13th Century (see below). One Richard Muche appeared in the "Calendar of Inquisitiones" for Essex, dated 1374, and a William Mouch, burgess of Stirling, was noted in Extracts from Records of the Royal Burgh of Stirling in 1520. Recordings from Lancashire Church Registers include the marriage of Ada Mutch to Mullinex (first name not noted) in St. Mary's, Prescot, in 1580, and the marriage of Elizabeth Mutch to Rafe Tarbok, also in St. Mary's, Prescot, in November 1584. Emota Much, an infant, was christened in Huyton by Roby, on April 23rd 1607, and on July 21st 1618, Ellen Muche and Thomas Harrison were married in Walton on the Hill. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of William Moch, which was dated 1275, in the "Hundred Rolls of Norfolk", during the reign of King Edward 1, known as "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.