This interesting and unusual surname, with variant spellings Tuf(f)ley, Toffley, Toughley, and Tiffley, widely recorded in church registers of Gloucestershire, Worcestershire an Warwickshire from the mid 16th Century is of English locational origin and is a dialectal variant of a place south of Gloucester, (Gloucestershire), called Tuffley. Recorded as Tuffelege in the Domesday Book of 1086, and as Tuffeleye in "Historia et Cartularium Monasterii Sanctus Petri Gloucestriae", dated 1154, the place was so called from the old English pre 7th Century personal name Tuffa found in the Domesday Book, plus the old English "leah", a wood or glade; hence, "Tuffa's leah". In 1565 the christening of William Tuffley took place in Buckland, Gloucestershire and on January 15th 1725 Paul Tafley married an Anne Lovesey in Oddington, Gloucestershire. Rebekah, daughter of Thomas Taffley was christened in Cowley on April 4th 1773 and on March 11th 1810 Elizabeth, daughter of Robert Taffley was christened in Broadway, Worcestershire. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of William Tufley, (marriage to Margareta Ban), which was dated June 6th 1546, Leigh with Bransford, Worcestershire, during the reign of King Henry V111, "Bluff King Hal", 1509 - 1547. 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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