Poles

This unusual name has a number of possible origins, the first and probably most likely for modern-day bearers of the name being a topographical surname for someone who lived near a pool or pond. The derivation is from the Old English pre 7th Century "pol". The second possible source is locational from any of the places called "Pool" or "Poole", in Yorkshire, Devonshire, Dorset, Cheshire and Gloucestershire. All of these except that in Yorkshire share the same derivation and meaning i.e. "the pool". "Pool" in Yorkshire is recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as "Povele", and earlier circa 1030 as "Pofle", suggesting that the name is from Old English "Poffle", meaning "a small piece of land". The surname "Pool" or "Poole" can also be an English variant of the popular medieval personal name "Paul". The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Mauritius de la Pole, which was dated 1166, in the "Norfolk Pipe Rolls", during the reign of King Henry 11, known as "The Builder of Churches", 1154 - 1189. 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.