Rayment

This unusual name is of Old Norman/French origin, and was introduced into England after the Conquest of 1066. It was developed from the Norman personal name "Raimund, Raimond", itself adopted from the Old German given name "Raginmund", composed of the elements "ragin", counsel, might, and "mund", protection. The personal name is recorded in the Latinized from of "Raimundus" in the Domesday Book of 1086 (Essex), and the surname is also first recorded in Domesday in a Latinized form, as Giraldus Reimundus. Other early examples of the given name are "Reimond", in 1245, and "Reimund", in 1273. One Philip Remond is listed in the Exchequer Lay Subsidy Rolls for Somersetshire in 1327. Among Francis Drake's companions in the "Golden Hind" in 1580 was Gregory Raymon, recorded in Elizabeth 1's State Papers as Gregory Raymente. The modern surname forms are Raymond, Raymont, Rayment and Raiment, and recordings from London Church Registers include those of the marriage of John Rayment and Jone Corse, at St. Peter Cornhill, on February 4th 1571, and of the christening of Androwe, son of Henry Rayment, on July 12th 1584, at St. Margaret's, Westminster. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of William Reimunt, which was dated 1207, in the "Pipe Rolls of Hampshire", during the reign of King John, known as "Lackland", 1199 - 1216. 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.