This interesting surname of English origin with variant spellings Auty, Alty, Altree, Alltree, etc. derives from the Old Norse personal name Auti, a short form of the various compound personal names with the first element "auth" meaning "riches, prosperity". The personal name is recorded as Auti, Alti, Outi in the Domesday Book of 1086, and as Walterus filius Aulti (1177) in the Pipe Rolls of Lincolnshire. The surname dates back to the mid 13th Century, (see below). Further recordings include one Robertus Auty (1379) "The Poll Tax Records of Yorkshire, and George Autie (1596), of Lydiate, is shown on the Wills at Chester (1545-1620). One Stephen, son of Stephen, son of Stephen and Elizabeth Alltree, was christened on January 3rd 1697, at St. John the Baptist, London, Sarah Altree married John Doughty on April 24th 1752, at St. George Mayfair, Westminster and Sarah Altree married John Jones at St. James, Westminster, on January 30th 1783. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of John Oty, Huntingdonshire, which was dated 1251, Cartulariu Monasterii de Rameseia, during the reign of King Henry 111, "The Frenchman", 1216 - 1272. 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.