This unusual and interesting surname is a variant of Pugh, which is of Welsh origin, and is a patronymic, with a reduced form of the Welsh element "ap" (the son of), from the given name "Hugh". The personal name is derived from the Old French "Hu(gh)e", a short form of any of the various Germanic compound names with the first element "hug", heart, mind, spirit. The name was introduced to Britain by the Normans after the Conquest of 1066; it was popular with the Normans partly due to the fame of St. Hugh of Lincoln (1140 - 1200), who was born in Burgundy and who established the first Carthusian monastery in England. The popularity of the European cognomens (French "Hugo", and the Italian "Ugo") perhaps owes more to St. Hugh of Cluny (1024 - 1109). The modern surname can be found as Pugh, Pughe, Pudge and Pew. Recorded in the Welsh Church Registers are the christenings of John and Edward, sons of Edward Pughe, on June 24th 1665 and July 5th 1666, respectively, at St. Thomas', Swansea, Glamorgan. A Coat of Arms granted to the family is silver, a lion passant red between three black fleurs-de-li. The Crest is a lion's head erased, in the mouth a trefoil slipped proper, and the Motto, "Nid Meddyg Ond Meddyg enaid" translates as "No physician but Physician of the soul". The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Richard ap Hughe, which was dated 1563, in "A Descriptive Catalogue of Ancient Deeds", during the reign of Queen Elizabeth 1st, known as "Good Queen Bess", 1558 - 1603. 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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