This most unusual and interesting name is of Anglo-Saxon origin, and has two possible interpretations. The first and most likely of these is that Lob(b) is a locational surname from the place so called in Devonshire, recorded as "Loba" in the Domesday Book of 1086. The placename derives from an Olde English pre 7th Century topographical term, "loba", denoting a "lump", or small hill; the village of Lobb is situated at the bottom of a hill. There is also a place of the same name in Oxfordshire, recorded in 1208 as "Lobbe", but early records of the distribution of the surname suggest that this place is an unlikely source for the modern name. A second possible derivation of the name is from the Olde English "lobbe", spider, used as a nickname, but, again, there is little corroborative evidence to support this derivation. One Philip de Lobbe was recorded in the 1242 Book of Fees for Devonshire, and London Church Registers record the name from the 17th Century on: Theophilus, son of Stephen and Elizabeth Lobb, was christened at Fetter Lane on August 17th 1678. A Coat of Arms granted to a Lobb family depicts two red lions, combatant, on a silver shield. The Crest is a red lion's head erased and collared gold. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Godric Lobbe, which was dated circa 1130, in the "Early London Personal Names", Ekwall, during the reign of King Henry 1, known as "The Lion of Justice", 1100 - 1135. 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.