This interesting surname, now widely recorded in Yorkshire and Lancashire, has two distinct possible sources, each with its own history and derivation, Firstly, Nutter may be of Anglo-Saxon origin, and a variant of Nothard, itself an occupational name for a keeper of oxen, deriving from the Olde English pre 7th Century "neat", Middle English "nowt", beast, ox, with "hierd", herd. Job-descriptive surnames originally denoted the actual occupation of the namebearer, and later became hereditary. Early examples of same include: Nicholas le noutehird, entered in the 1296 Register of the Freemen of the City of York, and Henry le Nauthird, noted in Records of Wakefield, Yorkshire, in 1308. The second possibility is that Nutter originated as an occupational name for a scribe or clerk, from the Olde English "notere" (Latin "notarius", an agent derivative of "nota", mark, sign). Adam le Notyere was recorded in the 1293 Staffordshire Assize Rolls, and a Dyonisia Notur appears in the Chartulary of Oseney Abbey, Oxfordshire, dated 1302. On July 23rd 1542, Helias Nutter and Agnes Preston were married in Halifax, Yorkshire, and on September 24th 1554, one John Nutter was christened at Whalley, Lancashire. A Coat of Arms granted to the Nutter family is a silver shield with a black boar passant between three red crescents, the Crest being a gold dolphin naiant. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Robert le Notere, which was dated 1221, witness in the "Assize Court Rolls of Warwickshire", during the reign of King Henry 111, known as "The Frenchman", 1216 - 1272. 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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