This is an English locational name from any of the various places similarly named, such as "Bolland" in Devonshire, "Bowland" in Lancashire and West Yorkshire and "Bowlands" in East Yorkshire. The placenames share the same derivation, from the Old English pre 7th Century "boga", meaning bow, and "land", land, the whole meaning the land in the bow or bend of the river. Locational names were often given to those who left their original home places and went to live or work in another village or town. The name development has included Joan de Boughland (1357, Yorkshire), and Agnes de Bowland (1379, Yorkshire). Variations in the idiom of the spelling of the surname include Bowland, Bowlas, Bolan, etc.. One Agnes Boland married Francis Hammond in London in January 1567, and John Boland married Martha Allison on January 21st 1720, at St. Nicholas Without, Dublin, Ireland. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of John de Bolland, which was dated 1237, Documents of Hornchurch Priory, Essex, during the reign of King Henry 111, "The Frenchman", 1216 - 1272. 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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