This interesting surname of English origin is a locational name from a place called Duffield in Derbyshire, and North and South Duffield in the East Riding of Yorkshire, deriving from the Old Norse "dufa" meaning "dove", perhaps a byname, plus the Old English pre 7th Century "feld" "pasture" or "open-country", hence "a field frequented by doves", or "Dove's feld". The surname dates back to the late 12th Century, (see below). Further recordings include one John de Duffeld (1273), "The Hundred Rolls of Derbyshire", and Geoffrey de Duffeld (1276), "The Calendar of Letter Books of the city of London". Variations in the idiom of the spelling include Duffell, Duffill, etc. Elizabeth Dufelde, was christened at Christ Church, Greyfriars, Newgate, London, on October 10th 1565, and John Duffield married Ellen Almonde on July 27th 1603, at St. Dunstan, Stepney. One George Duffield, aged 22, a famine emigrant, sailed aboard the "Panthea" from Liverpool bound for New York on December 12th 1846. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Roger de Duffeld, which was dated 1190, in the Poll Tax Records of Yorkshire, during the reign of King Richard 1, known as "The Lionheart", 1189 - 1190. 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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