This unusual English patronymic surname is a development from the Olde English pre 7th Century word 'Sige-raed'. This was composed of the elements "sige" meaning victory, and "roed", translating as counsel. Whether this may have originally described a sort of army staff officer, one who gave wise counsel in the event of war, is unclear. What is clear is that the surname is one of the earliest on record (see below) and that in the modern idiom, the spelling forms include Sirett(e) Sired, Syred, Syrad and Syratt. Early examples of the name recording go back as far as the 1085 Domesday Book, although the recordings as Siret and Sired are baptismal, the first surname being as below. Other examples include Roger Syred in the 1306 Suffolk Rolls and Roger Syrad of Norfolk in the Hundred Rolls of 1273. Later examples from the church records include in 1722, John Syrett who married Susanna Hippeth at St. Mary Aldermary, London, and in 1760 John Green married Elizabeth Siret at St Georges Chapel, Hanover Square. The Coat of Arms, granted in the Channel Islands, has the blazon of a black field, charged with a silver lion rampant. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Robert Sired, which was dated 1197, in the Pipe Rolls of the county of Kent, during the reign of King Richard 1, known as 'The Lionheart', 1189 - 1199. 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.