This name is of English locational origin from a place in Northumberland called Buteland, recorded as Boteland in the 1242 Fine Court Rolls of that county. The name means 'Bota's land', this personal name is believed to derive from the Olde High German 'Boto', a messenger, plus the Olde Norse 'land', translating variously as an 'estate' or 'landed property'. In some cases 'land' refers to a portion of a village or estate. The surname is well recorded in Northumbrian Church Registers from the late 16th Century as Booteland, Boutland (1609), Bootland (1651) and Boatland (1702). On February 14th 1651 William, son of Robert Bootland, was christened at Hexham, and on September 15th 1750 Mary Bootland married a John Jackson in Bedlington. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of John Booteland married Katheren Waugh, which was dated October 20th 1595 at St. Nicholas, Newcastle upon Tyne, during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, Good Queen Bess, 1558 - 1603. 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.