Recorded as Poll, Polle and Poller, this is an English medieval surname. It has a number of possible origins. The first and probably most likely for modern-day bearers of the name being either a topographical surname for someone who lived near a pool or pond or occupational for a person who worked on or by such a place. Intensive fish breeding and raising is not new, and was even more prevalent in ancient times. The second possible source is locational from any of the places called Pool or Poole, in Yorkshire, Devonshire, Dorset, Cheshire and Gloucestershire. All of these except that in Yorkshire share the same derivation and meaning of the pool. Pool village in Yorkshire is recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as "Povele", suggesting that the derivation is from Old English "poffle", meaning a small piece of land. Lastly the surname can also be a variant of the popular medieval and Crusader personal name "Paul". The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Mauritius de la Pole, which was dated 1166, in the "Norfolk Pipe Rolls", during the reign of King Henry 11, known as "The Builder of Churches", 1154 - 1189. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was sometimes known as the 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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