This is a dialectually transposed locational name from Fishlake in the West Riding of Yorkshire. The name was originally given to one residing in this place or, to one dwelling by a fish-stream. The surname is first recorded in Yorkshire in the early 13th Century. In the Poll Tax Records of Yorkshire, West Riding (1379) the name is recorded under three variant spellings:- Juliana Fysshelake, Matilda de Fishelake and Isabella de Fyshelak. In the modern idiom, the name appears only as Fishlock. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Simon de Fislake. which was dated 1204, The Assize Court Rolls of Yorkshire. during the reign of King John, nickname - 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.