Veitch

This interesting and unusual surname is a dialectal variant of Vacher, itself a medieval occupational name for a dairy man. The derivation is from the Old French "vachier", the Italian "vaccaro" meaning a cowherd, hence in old records (Promptorium Parvivorum) "Vaclerie" and "Vachery" are words used for a cow shed or dairy, and "Vaccary" a cow pasture, "vacca" being the Latin for cow. Amongst the recorded examples in London are, Elizabeth Veitch, who married Roberton Newton on March 24th 1750, at St. John's, Hackney, and Alexander Veitch, who married Christian Grieve on June 12th 1758, at St. Clement Danes, Westminster. In the modern idiom the variants include Veich, Vacha, Vatcher. A Coat of Arms granted to the Veitch family depicts three black cows heads erased, on a silver shield. On the Crest is a black cow's head affrontee (full-faced). The Motto "Famam extendimus factis", translates as "We extend our fame by our deeds". The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Simon le Vacher, which was dated 1219, witness in the "Assize Rolls or Yorkshire", 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.