Winser

This unusual and interesting name is a dialectual variant of the habitational name Windsor, from places so called in Berkshire and Dorset. The derivation is from the Olde English pre 7th Century 'windels', windlass, and 'ora', bank, possibly denoting a place on the river where boats were unloaded. The market town in Berkshire of this name was anciently known as 'Windleshora', said to have arisen from the minding course of the Thames. Windsor is the surname of the British Royal Family taken in 1917 from the Royal residence Windsor Castle, but it was an English habitational surname for centuries previously. In 1639 at St. Mary Woolchurch Haw London, one Edward Winser was christened. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Godfrey de Windelesor, which was dated 1086, Winton Records from the Domesday Book, Hampshire, during the reign of King William I, The Conqueror, 1066 - 1087. 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.