This most interesting and unusual surname is of Old Germanic origin, and is perhaps an importation, via the Low Countries, of a locational name derived from Prum, near Trier in Germany. Proome is a 20th Century variant of the surname. The surname first appears in England in the mid 15th Century (see below), and all present-day bearers of the name seem to descend from him. During the Middle Ages, when migration for the purpose of job-seeking was becoming more common, people often took their former village name as a means of identification, resulting in a wide dispersal of the surname. The name is found in the 15th and 16th Centuries in the area around Stowmarket, in Suffolk, and in the 17th, 18th and 19th Centuries around Harwich, Essex. Early recordings of the surname include: the marriage of Arnold Prom and Claergen Von Loevenich, on November 21st 1600, at Aldenhoven Juelich, Rheinland (Germany); the christening of Thomas, son of Thomas Proom, on January 26th 1672, at Chelsworth, Suffolk; and the birth of Simon, son of Thijs and Sibilla Proeme, on February 17th 1751, at Heemstede, Noord Holland. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of John Prom, which was dated circa 1454, in "Medieval Records of Suffolk", during the reign of King Henry V1, known as "The Founder of Eton", 1422 - 1461. 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.