This very unusual and interesting name is of early medieval English origin, although the component parts of the name are mixed in origin. "Botcherby" is a locational surname, deriving from the place so called in Cumberland. The place is first recorded in "The Register of the Priory of Wetherhal" (now Wetheral), Cumberland, as "Bocherby" in 1175, and appears in the 1191 Pipe Rolls of the county as "Boschardebi". The name means "Bochard's homestead or village", derived from the Old French personal name "bochard", also found as "Bou(r)chart' and "Bocard", Norman forms of the Old German name "Burchard", in Old English (pre 7th Century Anglo-Saxon) "Burgheard", composed of the elements "burh, burg", fort, and "heard", hardy, brave, strong, with the Old English "by", from the Old Norse "byr", settlement, homestead. The marriage of Joseph Botcherby and Rebekah Alleson was recorded at Great Smeaton, Yorkshire, on April 17th 1741. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Katherine Botchbee (christening), which was dated September 8th 1688, Kirby Malzeard, Yorkshire, during the reign of King William 111, "William of Orange", 1689 - 1702. 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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