This interesting name of English origin has two possible meanings. The first being a metonymic occupational name for a culter (a maker or dealer in knives) and is a derivation of the Olde English pre 7th Century "bloed", or Middle English "blade", cutting edge. Alternatively it is a locational name from a so called "lost" village in Northern England which is recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086, when Drago de Bewere a Danish nobleman settled there and obtained extensive land grants. The name became Burseblades (Bewere's Blades) but was shortened to Blades in the 16th Century. William de Blades is recorded as living in Yorkshire in 1301 and one Aun Blades married John Abrey on December 8th 1657 at All Hallows, London Wall, London. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Jacke Blade, which was dated 1297, Wakefield Court Rolls, Yorkshire, during the reign of King Edward I, "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.