This interesting surname, with variant spellings Bletherwick(e) and Blaitherwick, is of English locational origin from a place in Northamptonshire called Blatherwycke. Recorded as Blarewiche in the Domesday book of 1086, and as Blatherwic in the 1203, "Assize Court Rolls of Northamptonshire", believed to be a worn-down form of the Old English pre 7th Century "blaecthorn", blackthorn, plus the Old English "wic", and early loan-word from the Latin "vicus", dwelling place or farm. The surname from this source first appears on record in the early 14th Century, (see below). Recordings of the surname from English church registers include the marriage of Richard Bletherwicke to Dorothy Yearle in Wootton by Bedford on October 6th 1575, an infant, in Kempston, Bedfordshire, on September 25th 1636. On October 6th 1843, James, son of John Blatherwick, was christened in Blatherwyck, Northamptonshire. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Simon de Blatherwyke, rector of Barton, which was dated 1314, Records of Norfolk County, during the reign of King Edward 11, "Edward of Caernafon", 1307 - 1327. 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.