Recorded in a number of spellings including Spore, Spores, Spors, Spoors, Spours, Spurr, Spurman, Spurrier and Spurnier (English and sometimes Scottish), and Spohr, Spehr, Sporner, Spohrman, Spormann (German and Dutch), this is usually an occupational surname of pre medieval origins. If so it describes a maker of spurs and bits, one of the most important trades of ancient times. The derivation is either from the Olde English pre 7th century word "spora" or the Old High German "sporo", both meaning a spur. In the British Isles, whilst this very important occupation was to be found throughout the region, the acknowledged centre was the city of Ripon in North Yorkshire, and it is said that even today the name is most popular in its various forms in Yorkshire and Northumberland. However in both Germany and Britain the name may occasionally be residential and describe a person who lived by or on a "spor or spur". This was a piece of land jutting out above the local landscape, as in the recording of Henricus von der Spor, of Munstermaifeld, Germany, in the year 1301. The earliest known occupational recordings are those of John le Spureman of the county of Somerset, England, in the year 1222, Peter Spore, also recorded as Peter Spure, in the Pipe Rolls of the county of Sussex, in 1236, and in Germany, Clewin Sporer of Neuenburg, in 1352. Robert Spurr embarked from the port of London on May 15th 1635, bound for St. Christophers in the West Indies, whilst Jane Spoors, the daughter of Martin Spoors, was christened at Earsdon by North Shields, Northumberland, on April 6th 1777. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop," often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.

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