This interesting surname of English origin is a metonymic occupational name for a cutler, deriving from the middle English "blade", old English pre 7th Century "bloed" meaning "cutting edge". It may also be a locational name from a place called Blades in the North Riding of Yorkshire. The surname dates back to the early 13th Century (see below). Further recordings include Hugh de Bladis (1230), "The Assize Rolls of Staffordshire", Jacke Blade (1297), "The Court Rolls of the Manor of Wakefield, Yorkshire", and William de Blades (1301), "The Subsidy Rolls of Yorkshire". Variations in the idiom of the spelling include Blaydes, Bladesmith, Blader, Blades, Blayd, etc., One Isabell, daughter of John and Ann Blade was christened at Holy Trinity the Less, London, on April 22nd 1621, and John, son of Robert Blade, was christened at St. Andrew by the Wardrobe, London on September 26th 1623. Anthony Blades sailed aboard the Hopewell bound for the Barbados on February 17th 1634. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Hugh de Bladis, which was dated 1230, "The Pipe Rolls of Leicestershire", during the reign of King Henry 11, known as "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.