This interesting surname is of Anglo-Saxon origin, and is a locational name from one of the various places so called, for example in Buckinghamshire, Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire and Middlesex. The placenames are recorded respectively in the Domesday Book of 1086 as "Tuiforde", Tviforde", "Tuiuorde", "Tuiforde" and "Tveverde", and all derive from the Olde English pre 7th Century "twi", double, with "ford", ford; hence "double ford". The name would originally have been given to a ford over a river that had two arms, or perhaps a place where there were two fords side by side in the same river. Locational names were developed when former inhabitants of a place moved to another area, usually to seek work, and were best identified by the name of their birthplace. The surname is first recorded in the late 13th Century (see below), and can also be found as Twiford. A notable namebearer, Sir Nicholas Twyford (deceased 1390), was Lord Mayor of London and warden of the Goldsmiths' Company. He was goldsmith to King Edward 111 and was knighted in 1388. The marriage of Katherine Twyford and William Sperling took place on June 29th 1539 at the Church of St. Leonard's, Eastcheap, London. A Coat of Arms granted to the family is a red shield, fretty gold, on a gold chief a red lion passant. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Dominus de Twyford, which was dated 1292, in the "Records of Pleas before the King, Edward 1 - Edward 111", 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.

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