Plummer

This unusual and interesting name is a regional (West Midlands) variant form of the more familiar name Plummer, which itself has three possible origins. The first of these is a topographical name for someone who lived near a plum tree, derived from the Olde English pre 7th Century "plume", plum (tree). Topographical surnames were among the earliest created, since both natural and man-made features in the landscape provided easily recognisable distinguishing names in the small communities of the Middle Ages. The second possible origin is from an early medieval occupational name for a dealer in feathers, from an agent derivative of the Olde English "plume", meaning feather. The third source is of Norman origin, and is another occupational name, this time for a lead-worker, especially a maker of lead pipes and conduits, a plumber. The derivation here is from the Anglo-Norman French "plom(m)er" or "plum(m)er", from "plom(b)" or "plum(b)", lead. Job-descriptive surnames originally denoted the actual occupation of the namebearer, and later became hereditary. Jane Plimmer was christened on September 6th 1642, at the Church of Holy Trinity the Less, London. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Godric Plumberre, which was dated 1102 - 1107, in the "Pipe Rolls of Huntingdonshire", during the reign of King Henry 1, known as "The Lion of Justice", 1100 - 1135. 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.