This interesting surname Braban, Brabbant, Brabben, Brabbin, Brabon, Brabbon, Brabyn, Brabbyn, etc. is an ethnic name for someone from the duchy of Brabant, in what is now Belgium and the Netherlands. The surname dates back to the mid 13th Century, (see below). Further recordings include one Heliseus de Brabayn (1275), "The Hundred Rolls of Lincolnshire", Rabon de Braban (1281) "The Calendar of Letter Books of the city of London", and John Brabon (1296), "The Subsidy Rolls of Sussex". Church recordings include one Rychard Brabon who married Magdalene Wath on october 8th 1603, at St. Andrew's Enfield, London, John Brabon married Elizabeth Bradlye on May 1614, at St. John's, Hackney, and Ward Brabon married Frances Halfe by the Tower, London. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Richard Barbon, which was dated 1260, "The Assize court Rolls of Cambridgeshire", 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.