This interesting and unusual surname is of Anglo-Saxon origin, and has two possible sources. Firstly, it may be from the Middle English (1200 - 1500) personal name "Dere", from the Olde English pre 7th Century "Deora" (in part a short form of various compound names with the first element "deor", dear, in part a byname meaning "beloved"), and the Olde English "mann", man. Secondly, it may be from a nickname, derived from the Middle English "dere", from the Olde English "deor", wild animal, or from the adjective of the same form, meaning "wild, fierce", and the Olde English "mann", as before. By the Middle English period the adjective was falling out of use, and the noun was beginning to be restricted to the sense of the modern English "deer", a deer, so that this may be the sense of the surname in some cases. The personal name was first recorded as "Derman" in the Domesday Book of 1086. Recorded in the London Church Registers are the marriages of Richard Dorman and Agnes Rybbie on October 24th 1558 at St. Leonard's, Eastcheap, and of William Dorman and Margarett Holte on August 30th 1572 at St. Giles', Cripplegate. A Coat of Arms granted to the family is azure three leopards' faces silver, the Crest being a lion's paw holding a tilting spear. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of William Derman, which was dated 1201, in the "Curia Regis Rolls of Yorkshire", during the reign of King John, known as "Lackland", 1199 - 1216. 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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