This interesting surname of English and French origin is a nickname for a generous person deriving from the Middle English, Old French "large" meaning "generous", "free", from the Latin "largus" "abundant". The surname dates back to the early 13th Century, (see below). Further recordings include one Robert le Large, "the Hundred Rolls of Oxfordshire of 1273", and Thomas le Large, the Subsidy Rolls of Somersetshire of 1328", Variations in the idiom of the spelling include Lardge, etc.. The London church records include one Elizabeth, daughter of Robert Large, christened on April 11th 1441, and Dorothy Large married Edward Mymes on September 24th 1572, at Christchurch, Greyfriars, Newgate London. Dorothie Large married Richard Smith at Tottenham, on July 10th 1581. Thomas Large together with his wife Elizabeth, sons William and Henry, and daughter Margaret, were famine emigrants who sailed from Liverpool aboard the "Ashburton" bound for New York on February 26th 1847. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Geoffrey (le) Large, which was dated 1204-1205, "The Pipe Rolls of Northamptonshire", 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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