Wibrow

Recorded in many spellings as shown below, this is an English surname. It surprisingly perhaps is from the pre 7th century female given name of Wyburgh, spelt in the 7th century as Wigburh. This is composed of the elements "wig", meaning war, and "burh", a fortress. Perhaps by modern eyes this is an unusual name for a girl, but not in the period of history known as 'The dark ages'. The name was first recorded in the year 901 a.d, but then drops from view until the 12th century, probably because of lost records. In the modern idiom the spellings include Wyber, Wybergh, Whybrow, Wybrow, Wheybrew, Wiberg, Wibrow, and many others. Early recordings of the surname in the early surviving church registers of the city of London include Maria Wybrow, who was christened on December 16th 1608, whilst Ann Wibrow was christened at the church of St. Gregory's by St. Paul's Cathedral, on December 26th 1736. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Roger Wybir. This was dated 1279, in the Hundred Rolls of Oxfordshire, during the reign of King Edward 1st known as "The Hammer of the Scots", 1272 - 1307. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was often known as the Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.