This name is a dialectual variant of the name Hubert of German origin. It is derived from the Olde German personal name 'Hugibert', a compound of the elements 'hug', meaning 'heart', 'mind' or 'spirit', plus 'berht', bright or famous. The name was particularly popular in the Middle Ages, probably as a result of St. Hubert of liege, the patron saint of huntsmen, an 8th Century Bishop of Maastricht. In the modern idiom, the name has several spellings i.e. Hubbard, Hubbart, Hubbert, Hobart. Two early recordings in London are of one Richard Hubbard who married Elizabeth Stappe at St. Margaret Lothbury, on 24th June 1565, and the christening of one Edward Hubbard, son of James Hubber at St. Botolph, Bishopgate on the 13th May 1596. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Roger Hubert, which was dated 1199, Feet of Fines Northamptonshire, during the reign of King Richard I, The Lionheart, 1189 - 1199. 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.