This most interesting surname is of Old Scandinavian origin, and is a variant of Blamire, a Northern English locational name, from Blamires in West Yorkshire, or it may be a topographical name for "a dweller by the dark, swampy place", from the Old Norse elements "blar", dark, and "myrr", swamp, marsh. The place in Yorkshire probably takes its name from the surname rather than vice versa. Topographical surnames were among the earliest created, since both natural and man-made features in the landscape provided easily recognisable distinguishing names in the small communities of the Middle Ages. In some instances, the surname may be a variant of Bloomer or Blumer, which are metonymic occupational names for a maker of blooms, an iron worker, from the Olde English pre 7th Century "bloma", an ingot of iron. In the modern idiom, the surname is found as Blaymire, Blamore, Blumer and Blomer. William de Blamyre was recorded in 1250 in the "Calendar of Documents relating to Scotland" (Cumberland), while Robert le Blomere was mentioned in the Assize Court Rolls of Staffordshire in 1279. Hannah Blumire married Joseph Liddell on April 2nd 1812 at Burgh by Sands, in Cumberland. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of William Blomere, which was dated 1202, in the "Pipe Rolls of Derbyshire", during the reign of King John, known as "Lackland", 1199 - 1216. 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.