This interesting name, with variant spellings Frodgley, Frodgeley and Frogly, is of English locational origin, and a dialectal variant of Frodesley, a place in Shropshire. Recorded as Frodeslege in the Domesday Book of 1086, the place was so called from the Old English pre 7th Century personal name Frod, a cognate of the Old Norse Frothi meaning "wise" or "prudent", plus the Old English "leah", a clearing in a wood; hence, "Frod's leah". The surname first appears on record in Shropshire in the mid 16th Century. On May 22nd 1575, Thomas, son of Roger Frodgley, was christened in Worfield Henry Frogley and Katherine Norton were married in St. Botolph's without Aldgate, London, on August 19th 1627, and on February 10th 1675, Alexander Frogley, an infant, was christened in Lechlade, Gloucestershire. The marriage of Richard Frogley and Elizabeth Philipson took place in Eynsham, Oxfordshire, on April 24th 1684. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Frances Frodgley, (christening), which was dated November 19th 1564, Worfield, Shropshire, during the reign of Queen Elizabeth 1, "Good Queen Bess", 1558 - 1603. 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.

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