This interesting and unusual name, with variant spelling Domesday, originated as an occupational name for a judge's clerk or attendant. The component elements of the name are the old English pre 7th Century "dema", a judge, plus "daege", a servant, (Medieval English "deme- deye"). The surname fist appears on record toward the end of the 13th Century, (see below). Other early recordings include John Domisday - "The Subsidy Rolls of Cambridgeshire" (1327), and John Demysday, Norwich Wills Records, (1479). It is interesting to note that the Domesday Book compiled by the Commissioners of William the Conqueror in 1086, is named from the old English "domes daeg" i.e., "Judgement Day", and in some instances the surname may actually derive directly from the compilers of this book. On July 29th 1711, Mary Dumsday, an infant, was christened in Horsham, Sussex, and on April 16th 1781 Sarah Dumsday and Jonas Knight were married in East Grinstead, Sussex. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Reginald Domesday, which was dated 1297, in the "Pipe Rolls of Norfolk", during the reign of King Edward 1, known as "The Hammer of the Scots", 1272 - 1307. 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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