Baccus

This is an English name of some antiquity and can be either habitational or occupational in origin. As a habitational name, it would have been used of one who lived at a 'bakehouse', a bakery, and as an occupational (job descriptive) surname it denoted someone who worked in a bakery. The derivation is from the Old English pre 7th century word 'baechus', bakery, from the verb 'bacan' to bake and 'hus', house. The name development has included: Richard del Bakhous (1332 Lancashire), Thomas Bachous (1334 Essex) and Charles Baccus (1544 Yorkshire). One 'William Bacchus' is recorded as holding the position of 'Secular Chaplin' in the Register of the University of Oxford in 1538. On December 14th 1595 Ales Bacchus and Christopher Coole were married in St. Margaret's, Westminster, London and on November 7th 1597 Dauie Bacchus married a Jone Grene in St. Dunstan's, Stepney, London. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Walter de Bakhous, which was dated 1306, in the Calendar of Letter Books, London, 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.