Recorded in several spelling forms including Strut, Strutt, Strute, and Struttman, this is an Anglo-German surname of some times pre 7th century Norse Viking origins! It derives either from the Norse byname "Strutr" meaning which translates literally as "a cone-like ornament on a headdress", or it may be a nickname for an argumentative person, in which case the derivation is from the Middle English "strut" or the German "strauss", meaning "quarrel". The surname is 13th Century (see below), and early recordings include: John le Strut, in the Subsidy Rolls of Wiltshire, England, for the year 1273, and Robert Strut also in the Subsidy Rolls of 1273, but for the county of Cambridgeshire. Early church register recordings include: Richard Strute, who married Agnes Cox on April 29th 1581, at St. Dunstan in the East, Stepney, whilst William Strutt married Susanna Parnell on January 6th 1652, also coincidentally at St. Dunstan's, and John Struttman was a witness at St Pancras Old Church, London, on June 21st 1833. Edward Strutt (1801 - 1880), the first Baron Belper, he became chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster in Lord Aberdeen's government, in the reign of Queen Victoria. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Simon Strut, which was dated 1216, in the "Close Rolls", during the reign of King Henry 111, known as "The Frenchman", 1216 - 1272. 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.