Searston

This interesting name is one of the patronymic forms of the surname "Sayer", also found as Sare and Sear. It is an English surname, deriving from either of two personal names or from any one of three occupational names. Firstly, it may have derived from a Norman personal name "Sigiheri", composed of the Germanic elements "sigi", meaning victory, and "heri", army, or the Olde English personal name "Saehere", which derives from the elements "sae", sea and "here", army. The name may also have originated as an occupational name for a professional reciter, from the Olde English "secgan", to say. "Sayer" may also have come from the Middle English "assayer", to test, given to a tester or assayer of metals. Finally, it may be an occupational name for a woodcutter, from the Middle English "saghier" or the Old French, "seieor", to cut. Richard Sayers appeared in 1230 in the Pipe Rolls of Devonshire. Jone Seareson married Richard Lilliard on May 4th, 1579 at Tottenham, London, and the christening of Ann Searston was recorded at Firbeck, Yorkshire, on July 14th 1832. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Derick Serson, which was dated March 12th 1563, who was christened, at "St. Botolph-without-Aldgate, London", during the reign of Queen Elizabeth 1st, known as "Good Queen Bess", 1558 - 1603. 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.