Stainbridge

This is an English locational name of Anglo-Saxon origin, and can derive from either of the places called "Stanbridge" in Bedfordshire and in Hampshire. The former is first recorded as "Stangbrugge in 1165, and the latter as "Stanbrig" in 1242. The name means "the stone bridge", derived from the Olde English pre 7th Century "stan", stone or stones, with "brycg", bridge. There are a number of variants of the modern surname, Stanbridge, Standbridge, Stainbridge and Stenbridge. The marriage of Thomas Stanbrygge and Anne Gaynnys was recorded at the Church of St. Michael Bassishaw, London on the 17th January 1561 and Ann, daughter of Edward Standbridge was christened on the 16th April 1643 at St. Giles, Cripplegate in London. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Robert de Stannbrygge, which was dated 1327, in the Exchequer Records of Somerset, during the reign of King Edward 111, known as the Father of the Navy, 1327 - 1377. 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.