This interesting and unusual name has two possible origins, the first of which is from the early medieval English metonymic occupational surname 'Wool(l), Woll', for a worker in wool. The derivation is from the Middle English word 'woll', a development of the Old English pre 7th Century 'wull'. The plural forms of the modern surname, found as 'Wooles' and 'Woolls', are patronymic variants, meaning 'son of the woolworker'. The second possible origin of the name is from a topographical surname peculiar to South Western England, which denoted someone who lived by a spring or a stream. The derivation is from the Middle English 'woll, wull', steam, spring, a western dialect development of the West Saxon Old English 'wiell(a)'. The plural forms are genitive, meaning 'of the stream or spring'. The marriage of Margery Wooles and Edward Robinsone was recorded at St. James's, Duke's Place, London, on July 25th 1683. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of John de Wolle, which was dated 1296, The Sussex Subsidy Rolls, during the reign of King Edward 1, 'The Hammer of the Scots', 1272-1307. 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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