This interesting surname is of English locational origin from a parish in Leicestershire called Bescaby. The placename is recorded as "Bersaltebi" in the 1194 Pipe Rolls of the county and derives it's name from the Old English pre 7th Century "beorg" meaning mountain. hill or hillock plus the placename Saltby. Bescaby is 1.5 miles from Saltby and higher up the hill; hence "Hill Saltby". During the Middle Ages when migration for the purpose of job seeking was becoming more common, people often took their former village name as a means of identification, thus resulting in a wide dispersal of the name. The surname is first recorded in the early 17th Century (see below). In the modern idiom the surname has many variant spellings including Bescaby, Bescuby, Biscoby, Beskaby, Biscaby, etc.. Recordings of the surname from the Lincolnshire church registers include; the marriage of George Bescoby and Mary Hollingworth, which took place in Beckingham on November 10th 1681 and their son Thomas Bescoby who was christened in the same place on September 7th 1682. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Francis Beskebee, witness at christening, which was dated December 2nd 1610, Grantham, Lincolnshire, during the reign of King James 1st of England and V1 of Scotland, 1603-1625. 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.