Tyre

Recorded as Terr, Tire, Tyre, Tyer, Tyrer, Tireman, Tyreman, and the patronymic Tyres, this is a surname of early medieval English origin. It is thought to have been an occupational name for an official in charge of the "wardrobe" of a royla or at least noble family, and responsible for all their clothes, as well as the furniture down to the beds and accessories. This would have been a very important position and a major undertaking as it was usual for such people to travel between their different castles or houses, taking all their possessions with them! The derivation is from the word "tiren", meaning to equip or dress, from the Old French "atirier" probably introduced into the British Isles after the Norman Conquest of 1066. Job-descriptive surnames originally denoted the actual occupation of the namebearer, and only later became hereditary when a relative usually a son, followed the original namehoder into the same occupation or skill. For reasons that we are unable to discover this name in its various forms seems to have been prevalent in the county of Lancashire. Recordings from surviving church registers include: the christening of Edmund Tyrer on March 4th 1567, at Kirkham, Lancashire, Joane Tyre who married Joihn Tayler at All Saints Wandsworth, on September 22nd 1605, Symon Tyreman who married Mary Pyne at the church of St Perter le Poer, also city of London, on Augist 10th 1675. A coat of arms associated with the surname has the blazon of "A blue field chrarged with a lion rampant in silver, between a gold border. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was sometimes known as the Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.