Titcombe

This interesting name is of Anglo-Saxon origin and is a dialectal variant of a locational name Tidcombe, from a place so called in Wiltshire, which is first recorded in the Domesday Book as 'Titicome'. The derivation is from the Old English personal name 'Tidfrith', which gave rise to a short form 'Titta' with 'cumb', a narrow valley, thus Titta's valley. In the modern idiom the variants include, Titcomb(e), Tytcomb, Tydcomb(e), Tidcomb(e) and Titcom. During the Middle Ages, as it became more common for people to migrate, they would often adopt the placename as a means of identification. Among the early recordings in Wiltshire is the marriage of Elizabeth Titcumb and William Putman on April 26th 1611 in Salisbury, and the christening of Betty Titcumb on January 27th 1750 at Chippenham. A Coat of Arms granted to the family in 1693 in the county of Wiltshire has the blazon of a gold shield thereon a blue bend between two foxes' heads erased gules. The crest being an arm and hand couped grasping a broken lance gules. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Agnes Titcomb, which was dated February 2nd 1548, at St Andrew's, Ogbourne, Wiltshire, during the reign of King Edward V1, known as 'The Boy King', 1547 - 1553. 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.