Bowich

This famous surname is of English locational origin, from a place named Bewick in either Northumberland or the East Riding of Yorkshire. Bewick in Northumberland is recorded as Bowich in the Pipe Rolls of that county in 1167 and in the East Riding of Yorkshire as Biuuich in the Domesday Book of 1086. The name derives from the old English pre 7th Century "beo" meaning bee and "wic" a farm; hence a "bee farm", apparently originally it was a station for the production of honey. Early recordings of the surname from All Saints church records, Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, Northumberland include; Annes Buick, daughter of Christopher Buick, christened on October 7th 1604; the marriage of Edward Buick and Margret Manwell on August 21st 1608 and the christening of Ellinor Buick, daughter of Robert Buick on August 22nd 1613. In the modern idiom, the name is found as Buick, Bowich, Bewick and Bewicke. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of John de Bewic, which was dated 1219, in the Assize Rolls of Yorkshire, during the reign of King Henry 111, known as "The Frenchman", 1216 - 1272. 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.