This name derives from the Olde English pre 7th Century "bula", a bull, plus "pytt", a pit or hollow, and was originally given as a topographic name to someone who lived by such a pit where bulls were held for stud purposes or perhaps, the reference is to a pit where bull terriers were brought to fight. The name may therefore be a metonymic occupational one for someone who maintained or operated such a pit. The earliest recorded Cognates are John de Bulepenne - "The Hundred Rolls of Somerset", dated 1274 and Robert at Bulryng - The 1381 Poll Tax Returns of Yorkshire. The name "Bulpit(t)" is particularly well recorded in Hampshire Church Registers from the late 16th Century, (see below). On November 24th 1600, Joane Bulpit and John Beteshine were married in Faccombe, and on June 15th 1608 Amye Bulpitt married John Lewe in Vernham's Dean. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Mary Bulpett married William Wyatt, which was dated October 19th 1588 in Faccombe, Hampshire, 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.