This interesting and unusual name is of early medieval English origin and is a nickname surname for either a butcher who specialised in puddings or a stout (barrel shaped) person. The derivation is from the Germanic "Pud(d)", to swell or bulge, which is found in pudding and the Olde English pre 7th Century "faet", vessel or vat. In the modern idiom, the variants include Pud(d)ifoot, Puddefoot, Puddephat(t), and Puttifoot. The following examples illustrate the name development after the first recording (see below): Herbert Pudifot (1212, Curia Rolls of Yorkshire); Richard Pudifed (1213, Book of Seals of Oxford); Geoffrey Putifat (1221, Suffolk); and Robert Podifat (1288, Letter Books). Amongst the sample recordings found in London are, Ann Puddephatt, christened on November 11th 1676, at St. Botolph without Aldgate, and the marriage of Bennett Puddephatt and Esther King, in February 1747, at St. Paul's, Covent Garden. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Roger Pudifat, which was dated 1188, in the "Pipe Rolls of Cambridgeshire", during the reign of King Henry 11, known as "The Builder of Churches", 1154 - 1189. 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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