Stithe

This rare and interesting name is of Anglo-Saxon origin, and is a form of topographical or occupational surname for a man who owned or cultivated a "stitch" of land. The name derives from the Old English pre 7th Century term "stycce", meaning "a piece" of land, still found in Cambridgeshire and Essex field-names, and meaning "a ploughing land". As a topographical name it denotes residence on or by such a piece of land. The development of the surname includes the following examples: William Steche (1296, The Sussex Subsidy Rolls), and John Stiche (1327, The Suffolk Subsidy Rolls). The modern surname has a number of forms, ranging from Stitch, Stithe and Stitcher to Stych and Styche. One Samuel, son of William and Dorothy Stych, was christened at St. Botolph's without Aldersgate, London, on September 8th 1650, and John Stych married Susanna Mason in Waterbeach, Cambridgeshire, in 1781. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Philip Sticher, which was dated 1235, in the Book of Fees for Wiltshire, during the reign of King Henry 111, known as "The Frenchman", 1216 - 1272. 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.