Blackah

This interesting surname of English origin is a dialectal variant of Blacker, an occupational name for a bleacher of textiles, deriving from the Middle English "blaken" "to bleach" or "whiten", or, from the Old English pre 7th Century "blac" meaning "white" or "pale". It may also be a locational name from a place called Blacker in the West Riding of Yorkshire, derived from the Old Scandinavian "bla-kiarr" meaning "dark marsh". The surname dates back to the late 15th Century, (see below). One Francis Blackah married Elizabeth Pickles on May 30th 1728, at Grassington, Tyne and Wear. Mary, daughter of George and Kay Blackah, was christened on July 18th 1738, at St. Peter Cathedral, Sheffield, and John, son of John Blackah, was christened at Sheffield on May 14th 1740. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Alice Blaca, which was dated 1475, Register of the Guild of the Corpus Christi in the City of York, during the reign of King Edward 1V, "The self Proclaimed King", 1461 - 1483. 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.