The surname "Bullough" is a variant of "Bullock", which is an English nickname for a young, strong and exuberant man from the Old English word for a bullock "bulluca". Perhaps it was also an occupational name, as in one "Richard le Bollocherde", recorded at Eynsham, Oxfordshire, in 1287, who was most likely to have been employed as a herd minder. The name is first recorded in the 12th Century. Variations in the spelling of the surname include "Bolough", "Bulloughe", "Bullocke", "Bolloke" and "Bullough". The last of these appears to be particularly widespread in church registers of Somerset dating from the mid 17th Century. On November 24th 1667, Liddia Lucas married Jo Bullough at Chorley, Somerset. Henry Bullock, who died in 1526, went to Cambridge University in 1504, and also became a friend of Erasmus. In April 1635, Edward Bullock aged 32, embarked from London on the ship "Elizabeth" which was bound for New England. He was one of the earliest recorded namebearers to settle in America. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Walter Bulloc, which was dated 1170, Moulton's "Palaegraphy, Genealogy and Topography", Hampshire, during the reign of King Henry 11, "The Builder of Churches", 1154 - 1189. 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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