Longbottom - Name

This interesting name is of Anglo-Saxon origin, and is a topographical surname for someone who lived in a long valley or dell. In some cases the modern surname, found as Longbottom and Longbotham, may also be locational in origin, from the place called "Longbottom" in Luddended Foot in West Yorkshire. In either instance the name derives from the Old English pre 7th Century "lang", Middle English "long", long, with Old English "bothm, botm", Middle English "bodme", bottom, valley, dell. Topographical surnames were among the earliest created, since both natural and man-made features in the landscape provided easily recognisable distinguishing names in the small communities of medieval England. One Anne Longbottom was christened at Rothwell in Yorkshire on December 7th 1559, and the marriage of James Longbottom and Jane Morten was recorded at St. Giles, Cripplegate, London, on the December 4th 1665. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Richard Longboteham, which was dated 1379, in the "Yorkshire Poll Tax Returns", during the reign of King Richard 11, known as "Richard of Bordeaux", 1377 - 1399. 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.