Warwick

Recorded as Warwick, Warick, Warrick and others, this is an English surname. It is locational but from any or all of the places called Warwick. These include the county of Warwickshire, or the county town of Warwick, or a small village in Cumberland. In all cases the origination of the place name is from the sh pre 7th Century word "wering", meaning a weir, with "wic", a dairy farm. The county is first recorded as Waerincwicscir in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles of 1016, but the county town is even earlier being recorded in the Saxon Chartulary of 737 a.d. as "Waerincgwican". It was not until the recording as Warwic appears in the Domesday Book of 1086 that we have a spelling that in any way resembles the modern form. The derivation of the place in Cumberland is slightly different being from the word "waroth" meaning a shore, and "wic", a dairy farm. The earliest recording of this place name is in the register of the Priory of Wetherhal of 1132, as "Warthwic". Early recordings include Richard Warwick who married Hester Thruxton at St. Mary's Aldermary, in the city of London in 1601. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Turchil de Waruuic, He was the Sheriff of Warwickshire, and dated 1086, in the Domesday Book of Warwickshire, during the reign of King William 1st, known as "The Conqueror", 1066 - 1087. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was sometimes known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.