Tripe

Recorded in anumber of spellings including von Tripps, Trips, Tripe, Tripper, Tripp, Trippe, Tripps, and others, this famous surname is Austrian, English, German and Swiss. Of pre medieval origins, it is one of those which has the same spelling in different languages, but different meanings. In English it is usually a derivative of the word 'trippere', a metonymic nickname from pre 8th century Old French, for one who 'tripped'. As such it was a description for a professional dancer, and probably one who toured with a travelling theatre. Until Stuart times dancing, at least in the professional sense, being an entirely male occupation. The second possibility at least in England and France, is as a derivative of the Old French word 'tripe', meaning a seller of meats and sausage. In Germany where it is recorded in the spellings of von Tripp, Trip, Tripp, e Trippelmann and Dripp, the name originally described either a person who came from a village called 'Tripp', or was job descriptive for a maker of 'tripps', wooden shoes or clogs. Early examples of the surname recordings include include William le Trippere in the Staffordshire Pipe Rolls of the year 1380, Kaspar Trippel of Bottwar, Ludwigsburg, Germany, in 1457, Hans Tripp of Mosbach, Germany, in 1588, Harry Tripp, the rector of St. Faiths church, in the city of London, who died in 1612, and John Tripe at St George in the East, Stepney, on July 12th 1837. The first recorded spelling of the family name may be that of Hugh Tripp, which was dated 1273, in the Hundred Rolls of the county of Wiltshire. This was during the reign of King Richard 11nd of England, 1377 - 1399. Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop", often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.