There are two possible sources of this interesting name, the first being that it derives from an Old English pre 7th Century personal name "Drabbe", which is recorded as a name of a Peterborough festerman in 963 - 992, in A.J. Robertsons "Anglo Saxon Charters". In this case the modern surnames, may be a diminutive of this e.g. the "son of" or "little", but in any case it is of uncertain etymology. However, it is also likely to have its origins in a modern English word "drab", which although not recorded before the 16th Century is associated with the Irish Gaelic "drabog", Slattern, and would have been given as a nickname possibly to the child of an untidy person. One Richard James Drabble married Mary Crawford on July 13th at St. Mary's, St. Marylebone London. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Robert Drabe, which was dated 1161, in the "Pipe Rolls of Lincolnshire", during the reign of King Henry 11, known as "The Builder of Churches", 1154 - 1189. 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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