This unusual name is from the Welsh "Lloyd" a nickname distinguishing someone who was grey-haired, derived from the Welsh "llwyd", meaning grey. The name Floyd represents the English attempt to replicate the Welsh pronunciation of "Lloyd". Nicknames were very often used as a basis for surnames in medieval England, and in this case the nickname may also have applied to one who habitually wore grey clothes. The first recording of the name "Lloyd" is that of one "Richard Loyt", in the Worcestershire Subsidy Rolls of 1327. William Floyd (1734 - 1821) was one of the signatories of the American Declaration of independence. His great-grandfather Richard Floyd emigrated from Wales in the 17th Century. Sir John Floyd (1748 - 1818) pursued a brilliant military career in India, distinguishing himself particularly in the wars against Tippoo Sultan; he was created general in 1812, and baronet in 1816. His Coat of Arms is a black shield charged with a silver lion rampant regaurdant; on a gold chief embattled is a sword erect proper, pommel and hilt gold, enfiled with a red eastern crown between two tigers' faces also proper. A silver lion rampant regaurdant, murally crowned red, bearing a flag, representing the standard of Tippoo Sultan, flowing to the sinister proper, is on the Crest. The Motto "Patiens pulveris atque solis" translates as "Patient of dust and sun". The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Richard Floyd, which was dated 1509, in "Letters and Papers of the reign of King Henry V111", during the reign of King Henry V111, known as "Bluff King Hal", 1509 - 1547. 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.