This unusual name is one of the variant forms of the Anglo-Saxon locational surname more usually found as "Walpole". The modern surname derives from either of the places called "Walpole" in Norfolk and in Suffolk; the former is recorded as "Walpola" in the Domesday Book of 1086, and means "the pool by the wall", referring to a Roman bank, derived from the Old English pre 7th Century "W(e)all", Wall, with "pol", pool, deep place in a river. "Walpole" in Suffolk means "the pool of the Welsh", derived from the Old English "W(e)alh", foreigner, Briton (i.e. pre-Roman British, Celts) and often specifically Welsh, with "pol" as before. The modern surname deriving from either of these locations can be found as Walpole, Wolpole and Waple, and the genitive forms, indicating "of Walpole", Waples, Whapples and Whopples. One, Mary Wople married William Crispe on October 27th 1628, at Guilsborough Northants., and William Whopples was christened on September 1st 1799, at Broughton Astley, Leicestershire. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Godfrey de Walpoll, which was dated 1198, The Norfolk Pleas Court Records, during the reign of King Richard 1, "The Lionheart", 1189 - 1199. 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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