This unusual and long-established surname is of early medieval English origin, and is from a metonymic occupational name for a maker and\or seller of buckles. The name derives from the Middle English (1200 - 1500) word "bokel", buckle, from the Old French "bocle", itself originally from the Latin "buccula", the cheek strap of a helmet, a diminutive of "bucca", cheek. In some cases, the modern surname may derive from a metonymic occupational name for a shield-bearer or maker of shields, from the Middle High German "buckel", shield. Job-descriptive surnames originally denoted the actual occupation of the namebearer, and later became hereditary. The surname was first recorded in the mid 12th Century (see below), and the development has included: Peter le Bucler (1203, Yorkshire), and William Bokeler (1317, Kent), while the modern surname can be found recorded as Buckler, Buckle, Buckell and Buckles. Recordings from London Church Registers include the marriage of Jane Buckler and Hugh Edwards at St. Thomas the Apostle, in 1651. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Anschetil Buclar, which was dated 1148, in the "Winton Book of Hampshire", during the reign of King Stephen, known as "Count of Blois", 1135 - 1154. 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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