This unusual and interesting name is of Old Norse origin, and is a locational surname deriving from the place called 'Brocklesby' in Lincolnshire. The place is recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as 'Brochelesbi', and in the 'Lincolnshire Survey' of circa 1115 as 'Broclosbi', and means 'the settlement of Broclos'. The derivation is from an Old Norse personal name, also recorded in the Domesday Book as 'Broclos' and 'Brocles', formed from a nickname, 'Broklauss', meaning 'breech-less, without breeches', with the Old Norse 'by(r)', farm or settlement. The nickname became an English surname in its own right, as in Robert Brekeles (1276, Yorkshire). The marriage of Thomas Brocklesby and Isbel Thistlethwyat was recorded at Stainton by Lanworth in Lincolnshire on June 15th 1628. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Richard de Broclousebi, which was dated circa 1200, The Danelaw Charters (Lincolnshire), 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.

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