This picturesque and unusual name has three possible sources, the first being that it is a metonymic occupational name for a fishmonger, or even a nickname for someone with a fancied resemblance to the fish, and deriving from the Middle English 'hadduc'. However, it may also be from the Old English pre 7th Century personal name 'Aedduc', having the first element 'ead', meaning prosperity and fortune. Lastly, Haddock may be a locational name from Haydock, near Liverpool, perhaps so called from the Welsh 'Leiddog', a barley farm, or more likely from 'haeth', moorland and 'hoc', a hook of lands. The following examples illustrate the name development after 1208 (see below): William Haddoc (1228) and John Haddock (1302, Subsidy Rolls of Yorkshire). The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Richard Haddoc, which was dated 1208, in the Charter Rolls of Suffolk, during the reign of King John, known as '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.

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