This unusual and interesting name is a dialectal variant of the locational name Colleville from place so called in Normandy. The derivation is from the Scandinavian personal name Koli and the Olde French "ville", meaning a settlement or village. A family of this name trace their descent from Philip de Colville, who in the 12th Century held lands in Roxburghs. The name is also thought to be Scottish with a first early recording of one Philip de Coleuille who witnessed Malcolm 1V's confirmation of donations to Dunfermline monastery. Variations in the idiom of the spelling include Covil, Covill, Covel, etc..One Margarett Covell married Rychard Blakney on November 27th 1542, at St. Margaret, Westminster, and Patryk Covell married Any Rever on May 16th 1572 at All Hallows, Honey Lane, London. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of William Colevil(e), which was dated 1086, Domesday Book, Yorkshire, during the reign of King William 1, known as "The Conqueror", 1066 - 1087. 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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