This interesting surname is of early medieval English origin. It derives from the male given name "Tebaud", itself coming from the Old German "Theudobald", a compound of the elements "theuda", meaning people, and "bald", - bold. The personal name was apparently introduced into England by the Normans after the Conquest of 1066, and is found as Teobald, Tedbaldus, Tetbald and Tebaldus, in the famous Domesday Book of 1086. Early examples of the surname recording taken from authentic rolls, registers and charters of the medieval period include Tebbaldus de Valeines, noted in the Curia Regis rolls of Cambridgeshire in 1206, whilst he is also recorded as Tybaud de Valeines in the Red Book of the Exchequer, dated 1212. Other examples of the surname include: Hugo Tebaud of Lincolnshire in 1202; Geoffrey Tebbault of Northamptonshire, in 1350; and William Tebott, in the register of the Freemen of the City of York in 1405. Surnames derived from given names are the oldest and most pervasive surname type, and in vernacular naming traditions (as distinct from religious), names were originally composed of vocabulary elements of the local language, and no doubt bestowed for their auspicious connotations. In the modern idiom the surname is variously spelt: Tebbet(t), Tebbit(t), Tebboth and Tebbut(t). The first recorded spelling of the surname is shown to be that of Thomas Teobald. This was dated 1199, in the "Pipe Rolls of Gloucestershire", during the reign of King Richard 1st, known as "Lionheart", 1189 - 1199. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.

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