Meeus

This surname recorded in over two hundred spelling forms, from Bart, Barta, Bartomieu, Bertome, and Bartos to Berthelemot and Bartholin, is of Ancient Arabic origins, the name going back to the very beginings of history and the human race. It derives from the medieval male given name "Bartholomew", itself deriving from the Aramaic patronymic "bar-Talmay", meaning "son of Talmay". Talmay means "having many furrows", and therefore refers to someone who was rich in the sense of owning land. The Apostle Bartholomew, of whom Jesus said, "Behold an Israelite without guile", was believed to have been a landowner. The name was only used before the 12th century a.d. by the clergy or monks, an early recording being that of "Bartholomeus Canonicus" (Batholomew, the Canon), in the Danelaw Charters of London, England, in the year 1199. England was the first country in the world to adopt hereditary surnames as we know them today, and was also the first country to accurately record peoples names. Early examples of these recordings include Nicholas Bertelmev of the county of Sussex in the year1296, and Walter Berthelmeu in the city of London in 1334. Wernus Bartholomei was recorded in Hamburg, Germany, in the year 1274, whilst John Bate, one of the many short forms of the name, was recorded in the first muster of the inhabitants of Virgina colony, America,on February 7th 1624. The first recording of the family name is believed to be that of Robert Bartelmeu, which was dated 1273, in the rolls of the county of Huntingdonshire. This was during the reign of King Edward 1st of England, known as "The Hammer of the Scots", 1272 - 1307. Throughout the following centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop", often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.