This uncommon name is of early medieval English origin, and is one of the patronymic forms of a surname derived from the male given name Theobald. This name was found in England before the Norman Conquest of 1066 in the Olde English form "Theodbald", but it was popularized by the Normans in the Old Germanic form of "Theudobald", composed of the elements "theudo", people, race, with "bald", bold, brave. The Old French forms of the name, "Teobaud, Tibaut", were adopted into Middle English as "Tebald" and "Tibalt", and became a favourite medieval given name, generating a large number and variety of derivative surnames. The personal name is recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as "Teobald, Tedbaldus, Tetbald" and "Tebaldus", and the first recording of the surname from this source is that of Tomas Teobald, in the Gloucestershire Pipe Rolls of 1199. Variants of the surname range from Tudball, Tidbold, Tibble and Tipple to Dybald, Dibble, Tibbett, Tebbit(t) and Tibbott. The "s" of the patronymic form Tibbotts is a reduced form of "son of ". Examples of the name from Church Registers include: the marriage of Richard Tibbotts and Judith Revington at St. Bartholomew the Less, London, on April 21st 1646, and the christening of Andrew, son of Andrew Tibbotts, on April 16th 1655, at Bruton in Somerset. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of John Tybote, which was dated 1327, in the "Subsidy Rolls of Worcestershire", 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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