This interesting and unusual surname is of German origin, and is a metonymic occupational name for someone who farmed a long narrow tract of land, deriving from the Middle Low German "strippe". Job descriptive surnames originally denoted the actual occupation of the namebearer, and later became hereditary. It may also be a topographical name for a dweller by a strip of land. Topographical surnames were among the earliest created, since both natural and man-made features in the landscape provided easily recognisable distinguishing names in the small communities of the Middle Ages. Church Records list the christening of Bernard, son of Wilhelmine Coppicus Strippel, on November 16th 1858 in Bausenhagen, Westfalen, Germany, and the marriage of Frederick Strippel to Elizabeth Hider on July 26th 1863 at St. Andrew's, Bethnal Green, London. The Coat of Arms most associated with the family depicts, on a shield divided quarterly gold and red, in the first and fourth quarters a black lion, rampant, in the second and third quarters three silver stars, with a blue fesse; over all, in pale a silver charge with red chevrons. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Franz Heinrick Strippel, which was dated July 23rd 1850, marriage to Anna Scheckel, in Bausenhagen, Westfalen, Germany, during the reign of King Frederick William 1V of Prussia, 1840 - 1861. 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.