Belbin

This very unusual and interesting name is of Anglo-Saxon origin, and is an English locational surname from a place now 'lost' and no longer appearing on the maps. There are a surprising number of familiar English surnames with a similar history, since a great many villages and hamlets were forcibly 'cleared' during the 14th Century to make way for sheep pastures, and natural disasters like the Black Death of 1348 abandonment of once thriving settlements. The placename means 'the place of the funeral pyre of the Binningas', from the Olde English pre 7th Century 'bel', a funeral pyre (or beacon), with 'Binna' a personal name and the name of an Olde English clan. The name development has included Joseph Belin (1655, London), Elizabeth Belben (1656, ibid.), and Frances Belbon (1773, Lincolnshire). The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Lewys Baylbyne, married Mylred Wylbore, which was dated 22nd October 1595, St. Giles, Cripplegate, London, during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, Good Queen Bess, 1558 - 1603. 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.