Verrechia

Italian surnames are the most difficult to research with accuracy, as it was common practice until the 20th Century, simply to retain one or two letters of the derivative base form. Furthermore as in this case, the base form was given further variants by the continual adding of patronymic diminutives to create "son of and son of and son of". With "Verrechia" we believe that the "base" name is a form of "verde" meaning "to blossom" or the Latin "ver" meaning "truth" plus the various diminutive forms-eti-echi-ello etc.. Oddly and unusually the name in an "anglicized" form, appears in England, as shown below, in the 17th and 18th Centuries. Ruth Verrecka being christened at St. Botolphs Church, London on June 6th 1725, and Elizabeth Veryca (!), also being christened at the same church on February 7th 1726. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of John Verrecker, which was dated June 12th 1608, married Agnes Bowen at St. Mary Magdalene, London, during the reign of King James 1 of England and V1 of Scotland, 1603 - 1625. 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.