Burdus

This uncommon and interesting surname is of French locational origin, and is an Anglicized form of "Bordeaux", from the city so called in Gironde, France, apparently named with Old Aquitanian roots of obscure significance, "burd" and "gala". Other surnames, apart from Bordeaux, emanating from this source include Bourdas, Bourdice, Bourdis, Burdass, Burdess, Burdis, Burdas, Burdus and Birdis. The surname itself, first recorded in England in the late 13th Century, was introduced into England as a result of the extension of English dominion in France under the Plantagenets, and the increase in the wine-trade with Bordeaux, which led to increased immigration from Bordeaux as well as Anjou, Poitou and Gascony. Early recordings of the surname include: one Christopher Burdus, who appears in 1519, in the Register of the Guild of the Corpus Christi in the City of York; John Burdas, recorded in the Register of the Freemen of the City of York in 1662; and Mary, daughter of Robert and Catherine Burdus, christened at St. Martin in the Fields, London, on October 10th 1697. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Alan de Burdeus, which was dated 1297, in the "Subsidy Rolls of Yorkshire", during the reign of King Edward 1, known as "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.