Storr

This long-established surname is of Old Scandinavian origin, and belongs to that sizeable group of early European surnames that were gradually created from the habitual use of nicknames. These nicknames were originally given with reference to a variety of personal characteristics, such as physical attributes and peculiarities, and mental and moral characteristics. The derivation, in this instance, is from the Old Norse "storr", big, large, used to denote someone of strong build and powerful stature. The personal bynames "Stori" and "Estori", from the Old Norse "storr", Old Danish "stor", great, large, are recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086. Early examples of the surname include: John Stor, the Calendar of Letter Books for London, dated 1290, and Thomas Storre, noted in the 1379 Poll Tax Returns Records of Yorkshire. Storr, with variant forms Stor(e), Stor(e)y, Storry, Storie and Storrie, is particularly well recorded in Yorkshire Church Registers from the mid 16th Century. On February 8th 1551, Arthurus, son of Georgij Storr, was christened at Swilington, Yorkshire, and on August 24th 1564, Henricus Storr was christened at Whitgift. Samuel Stor, aged 17 yrs., who embarked from London on the ship "Faulcon" bound for the Barbados in April 1635, was an early settler in the New World. A Coat of Arms granted to the Storr family is a silver shield with a red pale, on an azure canton, a gold cinquefoil, the Crest being a cubit arm in armour couped in fess proper, holding a gold cross crosslet fitchee. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Geoffrey Stor, which was dated 1200, in the "Pipe Rolls of Norfolk", 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.