This intriguing and uncommon name is of early
medieval English origin, and is a good example of that fascinating group of early European surnames that were gradually created from the habitual use of
nicknames. These were frequently given in the first instance with reference to a person's mental and moral characteristics, among other qualities, and the nickname "full of love", which has generated the modern surnames ullilove, Fullylove, Fullalove and Fullelove, probably denoting a particularly loving, amorous person, or perhaps one filled with religious ardour. The surname may derive directly from the
Middle English "full(e) of love" (from the
Olde English pre 7th Century "luf"), or it may be a translation of the
Old French equivalent "pleyn d'amour", a nickname introduced into England in the wake of the
Norman Conquest of 1066. One Christiana Pleynamur was listed in the Suffolk
Hundred Rolls of 1275, and Richard Playndeamours appears in the Lancashire
Assize Rolls of 1284. William Ffulolflof is mentioned in the
Subsidy Rolls of Cumberland in 1332, and Roger Full-of-Love, of Quydenham, resigned the vicarage of Tottingham, Norfolk, in 1433. Recordings of the name from
London Church Registers include that of the
christening of Thomas, son of John Fullylove, at St. Andrew's, Holborn, on January 27th 1660. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Henry Ffuloflove, which was dated 1327, in the "Subsidy Rolls of Cambridgeshire", during the reign of King Edward 111, known as "The
Father of the Navy", 1327 - 1377. 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.