This name, with variant spellings Poskett and Pos(t)gate, is of English locational origin from a place in the North Riding of Yorkshire called Postgate. The name derives from the Northern Medieval English "post(e)" meaning a post or pole, plus "gate", a road (ultimately from the olde Norse "gata", a way or street), hence, "a road marked by posts". The surname from this source is first recorded in the mid 14th Century, (see below). One, Richard Poskett appears in the 1514 "Register of the Corpus Christi Guild in the City of York". on June 17th 1576 Barbary Poskett, an infant, was christened in Hackness, Yorkshire, and on March 19th 1598 Jana Postgate was christened in Danby in Cleveland. On May 14th 1657 Christopher, son of John Poskitt, was christened in Thirsk, Yorkshire. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Thomas Postgate, which was dated 1349, "The Chartulary of Whiteby Abbey, Yorkshire", during the reign of King Edward III, The Father of the Navy, 1327 - 1377. 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.