This interesting and unusual name is of Anglo-Saxon origin, and is a locational surname deriving from a now "lost" place thought to have been situated in Yorkshire or perhaps Lancashire, judging by the spread of early recordings of the name. An estimated seven to ten thousand villages and hamlets in Britain are known to have disappeared since the 12th Century due to natural disasters like the Black Death of 1348, during which an eighth of the population perished, and also to the enforced clearing of large areas of rural land to make sheep pastures during the boom in the wool trade of the 14th and 15th Centuries. The placename "Brox(h)op" or "Brox(h)up" derives from the Old English pre 7th Century byname "Broc(c)a", with "hop", small, enclosed valley, to mean "valley frequented by badgers", or "Broca's valley". The surname development in Yorkshire includes Boxsoppe (1563), Broxuppe (1573), Broxoppe (1584) and Broxhop (1648). The marriage of Henry Broxup and Mercye Long was recorded at Guiseley, Yorkshire, on October 10th 1629. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Agnes Boxup (christening), which was dated May 5th, 1561, Bolton by Bowland, Yorkshire, during the reign of Queen Elizabeth 1, "Good Queen Bess", 1558 - 1603. 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.