This unusual and interesting name is of early medieval English origin, and derives from the aphetic, shortened form of the Middle English "apostel", apostle, a development of the Olde English pre 7th Century "apostol", ultimately derived from the Greek "apostolos", messenger, delegate. The term was used as a nickname for someone who had played the part of one of the twelve apostles in a medieval play or pageant, and also for someone considered to be a particularly zealous Christian. In some instances, the surname may represent a survival of a rare personal name, recorded in the Surrey Pipe Rolls of 1176 as "Postellus", and as "Apostollus" in the 1203 Middlesex Curia Rolls. Early recordings of the surname include: William La Postle (1300, London); Ralph Postle (1300, ibid.); and John le Pusel (1332, Sussex), while the modern forms range from Postle(s) and Possell to Posthill and Postill. In London, the christening of William, son of William and Alice Postles, was recorded at St. Andrew's, Holborn, on September 9th 1638. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of William Postel, which was dated 1170, in the "Pipe Rolls of Northumberland", 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 known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.