This unusual and interesting name is of English locational origin, from the place called "Caulcott" in Oxfordshire. The placename is first recorded as "Caldecot" in 1279, which shows its derivation to be the same as that of numerous other places in England called "Caldicott", "Caldecote", which means "cold huts", derived from the Old English pre 7th Century "c(e)ald", meaning "cold" and "cot", a dwelling, cottage or hut. It is thought that some places so named may have been originally unattended shelters for way farers or possibly animals, although some of the places with this name were established villages by 1086. There are thirty variants of the surname in the modern idiom, showing regional variations, e.g., "Caulcott" is one of the northern and midland versions, "Chollacott" the southern version. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Simon de Caldecot. which was dated 1195, The Cambridgeshire Pipe Rolls. during the reign of King Richard I, The Lionheart, 1189 - 1199. 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.