Recorded in a number of spellings as shown below, this is an English surname, but one of pre 10th century Old French origins. It derives from 'mande or maund', words introduced into the British Isles after the Norman-French Conquest of 1066, and describes a basket or cask. As such the surname is a metonymic for a maker of such vessels. This was a very important industry right through to the 20th century, and this importance may have been recognised in the fact that the medieval word "comaunder", meaning literally to command, may also be the source of some nameholders. The surname spelling forms include Maund, Maunder, and Maunders. A coat of arms was granted to a family of the name in Dublin in 1810, being an ermine field, a red saltire charged with five gold bezants. The motto is "Pro omnibus laus deo", or Praise God for all things. Examples of the name recordings include: Clinton Maund who married Elizabeth Coppin at St James church, Dukes Place, Westminster, on June 24th 1691, Hannah Maunders, who married John Burton, at the Church of All Hallows, London Wall, on August 21st 1716 and William Maunder, who married Mary Anne Dinnes, at St. Neot's, in Cornwall, on June 3rd 1837, in the first year of the reign of Queen Victoria. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was sometimes known as the 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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