This interesting surname is a patronymic from either the Old English pre 7th Century personal name Bacca, or a nickname for someone with a hunched back, or a nickname for someone who was like a bat in the sense that he\she hated the day and loved the night, deriving from the Middle English "bakke" meaning "back", "bat". Finally, it may be a topographical name for someone who lived on a wood or ridge, deriving from the Old English pre 7th Century "boec" meaning "back". The surname dates back to the mid 11th Century, (see below). Further recordings include Richard Bac (1182), "The Pipe Rolls of Cornwall", Henry le Bak (1297) "The Coram Rege Rolls of kent", and Joan atte Back (1327) "The Subsidy Rolls of Somerset". Variations in the idiom of the spelling include Backs, Backes, etc.. Ann Margaret, daughter of Martin Bakes, was christened on April 1st 1790, at Lying in Hospital, Endell St., Holborn, and William Bakes married Mary Davis on June 27th 1794, at St. George Hanover Square, London. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Godwine Bace, which was dated circa 1055, Old English Bynames, Somerset, during the reign of King Edward the Confessor, 1042 - 1066. 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.

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