Double-barrelled surnames, usually created following a marriage between two families, have no overall meaning as a unit, but the separate parts have their own meaning and derivation. In this instance, the name Oliver, introduced into England by the Normans, is symbolically associated with the Olive branch, an emblem of peace, from the Old French "Olivier"; however, the ultimate origin of the name lies in the ancient Scandinavian Anleifr, a male given name formed from the elements "an", ancestor, plus "leifr", remains. Oliverus (without surname) appears in the Domesday Book of 1086, and a Jordan Oliver was noted in the "Assize Court Rolls of Somerset", dated 1202. The origin of Paull is Roman from the Latin "Paulus", meaning "small". This name was adopted by the Pharisee Paul of Tarsus on the road to Damascus (A.D. circa 34) and it is he, more than any other of Christ's followers, who is credited with establishing Christianity as a major world religion. One, Haldanus Paulus was noted in the 1182 "Pipe Rolls of Suffolk", and on September 24th 1592, Edward Paull and Janne Coope were married in St. Katherine by the Tower, London. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Walter Olifer, who witnessed a gift to the Bishop of Glasgow, which was dated circa 1180, "Episcopal Records of Glasgow", during the reign of King William "The Lion of Scotland", 1165 - 1214. 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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