Bland

This name is of English locational origin from a place called Bland in the West Riding of Yorkshire. The name derives from the Old English pre 7th Century '(ge)bland' meaning a 'storm' or 'commotion' with reference to the high exposed position of the place. The surname from this source is first recorded towards the end of the 13th Century. In the 1379 Poll Tax Returns Records of Yorkshire the name is entered several times as, de (of) Bland and Bland. On May 15th 1635, one Luke Bland, aged twenty years, embarked from London on the ship 'Plaine Joan' bound for Virginia. He was one of the first recorded name bearers into America. Humphrey Bland (1686-1712) became Governor of Gibraltar (1749) and of Edinburgh (1752-1763), and commander-in-chief of forces of Scotland (1753). The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of John de Bland, which was dated 1297, The Subsidy Rolls of Yorkshire, during the reign of King Edward 1, 'The Hammer of the Scots', 1272-1307. 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.