This picturesque and unusual name is a dialectal variant of Sealove, which derives from an Old English pre 7th Century female given name "Sealeofu", the first element "Sea", sea, and "leofu" dear. The name is recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086, with "leofu" usually appearing as "leve", and also "live", with the earliest recording of the personal name in the "Cambridgeshire Inquiries" is "Salova" in 1066. A later recording of the personal name is in the Middlesex Curia Rolls of 1203 and appears as "Salove". Alternately, this name may be a variant of Self, or Selfe, derived from the Old English "Saewulf",- Seawolf. One John Selfe married Elynore Weston on June 26th 1580 at St. Giles, Cripplegate, London. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Agnes Selove, which was dated 1308, in the Transactions of the Essex Archaeological Society, during the reign of King Edward 11 of Caernafon, 1307 - 1327. 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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