Bemment

This interesting and unusual name is a dialectal variant of a locational name Beaumont, so called from various places in Normandy and else where in France. It derives from the Old French 'beu' meaning fair, lovely and 'mont' meaning hill. There are a number of places in England which, under Norman influence, came to be called Beaumont, the most outstanding being an Essex location which changed its name from 'fulepet' (foul pit) to Beaumont (beautiful hill). This variant is rare but the following are examples of namebearers found in London, Hannah Bemment married Thomas Sidney, on the 11th of May 1795 at St. Dunstan's, Stepney, and John Bemment married Eliza Cullin on the 18th September 1825 at Christchurch, Greyfriars, Newgate. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Rogerius de Belmont, which was dated 1086, Domesday Book, Dorset, 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.