This picturesque and interesting name is of Medieval origin and is the Scottish variant of Moody, a nickname surname given to a courageous person or one quickly moved to anger. The derivation is from the Old English pre 7th Century 'modigi', brave or proud, the Middle English 'modie', meaning impetuous, and a derivative of 'mod', spirit. 'O Mony were the moodie men, lay gasping on the green'. (The Ballad of Captain Carre', by Jamieson). In the modern idiom the variants include, Modey, Moodie, Muddeman. Amongst the sample recordings in London are the christenings of Elizabeth Muddiman the infant daughter of Edward and Elizabeth Muddiman, on June 27th 1633 at St. Martin-in-the-Fields, Westminster. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Richard Modimon, which was dated 1275, Subsidy Rolls, Worcester, during the reign of King Edward 1, 'The Hammer of Scots', 1272 -1307. 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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