This very unusual name has several alternative spellings which include Dillaway, Diloway, Dillway, Dilawey, Dilliway and Dilleway. The name is habitational and derives from a place called "Dilloway" although no such village is now recorded and it is therefore assumed that it is one of the seven thousand such placenames which have disappeared since the medieval period, usually as a result of plague, famine or farming greed. The name is of Old English origin and translates as "the road by which the dill grows". The village may have been in Berkshire or Bedfordshire. The name examples include Joseph Dilloway who married Frances Mason at St. Martins in the Field, Westminster on July 28th 1778, and Rosetta Dillaway, recorded at Marylebone on July 20th 1817. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Mary Dilleway, which was dated July 2nd 1769, married Jonathan Hurst at St. Clement Danes, Westminster, during the reign of King George 111, known as "Farmer George", 1760 - 1820. 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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