Salmon

This intriguing and unusual name is of early medieval English origin, and derives from the Middle English and Old French given name "Salmon" or "Saumon", a contracted form of Salomon. The ultimate origin of the personal name is from the Hebrew male given name "Shelomo", a derivative of "shalom", peace. Salomon and its variant forms was a popular given name among Christians and Jews during the Middle Ages; it is recorded as "Salomon" in the Domesday Book of 1086, and one "Salamon clericus" is recorded in Suffolk in 1121. Salomon was the usual medieval form, used in the Vulgate Bible, and by Tyndale and Cranmer, while Solomon is the form used in the Geneva Bible and the Authorized Version. In England the surname may also have developed from use as a nickname for a man thought to be unusually wise, and for someone who had played the part of King Solomon in a miracle play. The modern English surname has many variants, ranging from Salamon, Salaman and Salomon to Salmon, Salman and Salmen. A Coat of Arms granted to a Salmon family is ermines, three salmons haurient proper, in chief a gold cross pattee. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Roger Salmon, which was dated 1210, in the "Curia Rolls of Bedfordshire", 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.