This unusual surname is of Medieval English origin, and is a dialectal variant of the surname Bunting, derived from a nickname for a person with some fancied resemblance to the small bird so called. The bird's name is of unknown origin; it may possibly be a derivative of a Germanic element "bunz" meaning "short and thick", or "little barrel". The word is recorded early on as the first component of the name Buntingford, a place in Hertfordshire, which appears as "Buntingeford" in the 1185 Records of the Templars in England. The surname first appears in the late 13th Century, and has a number of variant forms ranging from Bunting, Banting, Buntin(e), Bunten and Bunton to Buntain, Bontein, and Bontne. London Church Records include the marriage of Sarah Banting to Michael Martindale on July 6th 1732 in Christ Church, Greyfriars, Newgate, London, and the christening of Susannah Banting on January 22nd 1737 at St. Martinin the Fields, Westminster. A Coat of Arms granted to the family is silver, a purple chevron between three blue buntings. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Alice Buntyng, which was dated 1273 in the "Hundred Rolls of Suffolk", during the reign of King Edward 1st - The Hammer of the Scots, 1272-1307. 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.