Warriner

This interesting name has two possible related origins. It can be a topographical surname which originally denoted someone living by a "warren" or "game-park", or an occupational surname for someone employed as the game or forest warden, the "warrener". The derivation is from the Anglo Norman French word "warrene", (and hence "warrenier"), meaning a park or piece of preserved land used for breeding game. The word is thought to derive ultimately from the Germanic element "war(in)", to guard, preserve. "Cobbe's Prophecies" of 1614, contains the phrase "The Warriner knows there are rabbits in breeding". One "John Warriner" was christened in Kensington, London in 1621. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of William le Wariner (witness), which was dated 1198, The Fines Court Records of Kent, during the reign of King Richard I, The Lionheart, 1189 - 1199. 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.