This name is of English topographic origin for one dwelling by a long meadow. The first element derives from the Olde English pre 7th Century "long" meaning "long", plus "moed", a meadow. The surname is first recorded in the early half of the 14th Century, (see below). In the "modern" idiom, the name has three spelling variations:- Langmead, Landmaid and Longmate. The latter form is particularly well recorded in London Marriage Registers from the late 18th Century. On August 12th 1793 Barak Longmate married an Elizabeth Lock in St. Paul's Covent Garden, Westminster and on December 31st 1797 Elizabeth Longmate and John Swain were married in St. Marks in the Fields, Westminster. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Richard Langemede. which was dated 1327, in the "Pipe Rolls of Somerset". 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.

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