Truelove

Recorded in several forms including Trulove, Truelove, Trelove, Trewlove, Truslove, Treslove, Treaslove, and others, this is an English medieval surname. It was a nickname surname for a faithful lover or sweetheart, or perhaps given the robust humour of the Chaucerian period of the Middle Ages, the complete opposite, and the name for an absolute rotter!. It originates from the Olde English pre 7th century word 'treowe' meaning true, and and 'lufu', faithful love. It may also have been used to describe one 'betrothed' or bound by law, from the Scandinavian 'troe iof', or the Norse 'at trulofa', meaning to pledge ones faith, or again the reverse for one who had broken this trust. Hence the meaning of the paradoxical line in the old song 'so my true love was false to me'. Early examples of the recordings include William Truelove who married Mary Allen on 30th November 1583 at St. Margaret's Westminster, whilst somewhat later we have the dialectal in the recording of Sarah Treslove who was christened at the church of St Martins in the Field, also Westminster, on April 28th 1743. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Roger Trewelove. This was dated 1275, in the Hundred Rolls of Shropshire, during the reign of King Edward Ist. He was known as the Hammer of the Scots, 1272 - 1307. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.