This interesting and curious surname is of Old Scandinavian origin, and is a locational surname from Escrick, in Yorkshire, which was recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as "Ascri" and in the Yorkshire Charters of 1157 as "Ascric". The placename is composed of the Old Scandinavian elements "eski", ash-trees, and "-ric", a stream or ditch. The second element may also be the Old Norse "krikr", a bend, nook. During the Middle Ages, when migration for the purpose of job-seeking was becoming more common, people often used their former village or hamlet name as a means of identification, resulting in a wide dispersal of the surname, in a number of variant forms. Early examples of the surname in the Yorkshire Church Registers include: the marriage of Grace Escrod and Thomas Crabtree on September 4th 1600 at Heptonstall; the christening of Sarah, daughter of Henry Eskritt, on June 1st 1655, at St. Michael le Belfry, York; and the marriage of Edmund Escreet to Catherine Garside on April 6th 1708, at St. Peter's, Bolton le Moors. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of William de Escrik, which was dated 1307, in the "Register of the Freemen of the City of York", during the reign of King Edward 11, known as "Edward of Caernafon", 1307 - 1327. 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.