Although this surname is apparently of French origins, it is in the Channel Islands that all known recordings (in this spelling) are found today. The precise origin is Scandinavian, "Taude" being a developed form of the ancient pre 7th Century Scandinavian "Tjald", a word which is job descriptive for a maker of (canvas) sheets and covers. As "Taude", the name is recorded in France, an example being Louis Taude, who married Marguerite Chenauauon at St. Doycelin Annois, Loire on August 23rd 1785. As "Taudevin", the name translates literally as "the wind cover" but it is our opinion that the name is a dialectal diminutive of "Taude", to mean "little Taude" or "son of Taude" from the medieval "Taude-Kin". In the Channel Islands the recordings include Jean, son of Abraham (below), baptised on November 2nd 1740, while on November 23rd 1766, Charles Taudevin married Judith Robert at Castel, Guernsey. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Abraham Taudevin which was dated September 30th 1739, a witness, at "Castel, Guernsey", during the reign of King George 11, known as "The Last Warrior King", 1727 - 1760. 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.