This unusual name is of Anglo-Saxon origin, and is a locational surname deriving from the hamlet now called Mallows Green, near Bishop's Stortford in Essex. The placename means "the cross or mark on the hill", derived from the Olde English pre 7th Century "mael", mark, cross, with "hlaw, hlaew", low, hill, mound, sometimes in the sense of a burial mound or a meeting place. Locational surnames, such as this, were acquired by the lord of the manor and local landowners, and especially by those former inhabitants of a place who had moved to another area, usually in search of work, and who were thereafter best identified by the name of their birthplace. Examples of the surname from various Church Registers include the following recordings of marriages: Thomas Mallows and Barbara Jordon, at Hepworth, Suffolk, on December 14th 1609; Elizabeth Mallowes and Andrewe South, on September 27th 1610, at Barkway, Hertfordshire; and Bridgit Mallows and John Veysey, at St. Botolph's, Colchester, Essex, on October 3rd 1655. The Coat of Arms most associated with the name depicts a gold fesse engrailed between three silver boys' heads, couped, on a blue shield. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Agnes Mallows, which was dated 1565, marriage to Thomas Barns, at Eye, Suffolk, during the reign of Queen Elizabeth 1, known as "Good Queen Bess", 1558 - 1603. 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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