This interesting name is English. It is also locational and originates from a now "lost" medieval village in the county of Cheshire, believed to have been near the town of Cheadle. It would seem to be derived from the pre 7th century Olde English and Welsh personal name Dewi, itself a form of the Hebrew David, and "snaep" meaning bog land. Locational surnames are usually "from" names. That is to say names given to people after they left their original homes to move somewhere else. It was then and it remains so today in the 20th century, that one of the easiest ways to identify a stranger was to call him or sometimes her, by the name of the place from whence they came. In this case the surname developments include recordings such as Richard de Dewsnap of Mottram in Cheshire in 1369, and later Thomas Dewsnap also of Mottram, but in 1637, and Robert Dewsnap who married Sarah Williams at St. Georges Chapel, Hanover Square, in London, in 1769. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Richard de Deusnape. This was dated 1294 at Mottram in Cheshire, during the reign of King Edward 111rd of England, 1327-1377. 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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