This interesting and uncommon name is of early medieval English origin, and is an occupational surname for someone in charge of dispensing provisions in a great house or monastery, or who collected rents paid in kind. It may also refer to a wool-storer or warehouseman. The name derives from the Middle English "stor" (with the agent suffix "-er"), from the Old French "estor", supplies, provisions, a derivative of "estorer", to lay in, store, ultimately from the Latin "instaurare", renew, replace. Since the word "stor" was also sometimes used in the Middle Ages for livestock, the surname may in some cases refer to a keeper of animals. Job-descriptive names originally denoted the actual occupation of the namebearer, and later became hereditary. Early examples of the surname, now found as Storer, Storrar, Storah, Storror, Storrier, Storrow and Stores, include Thomas le Storer (1332, Cumberland); Adam le Storour (1357, Staffordshire); and John Storrer (1501, Yorkshire). The marriage was recorded in London of John Storer and Mary Smith on February 2nd 1584, at St. Matthew's, Friday Street. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of William le Estorur, which was dated 1309, in the "Cartulary of Guisburn Priory", Yorkshire, during the reign of King Edward 11, known as "Edward 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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