This interesting name is a Danish and Norwegin cognate of the English name "Bush", which itself has two possible origins. Firstly, it may be of topographical origin from the old English pre 7th Century "busc" meaning bush and refers to someone who lived by a thicket of bushes. It may also be an Anglicized form of the German Busch, which was adopted by some Jews in allusion to the story of the burning bush from which God spoke to Moses. The surname was first recorded in the late 12th Century. Other early recordings of the surname include Henry del Bush, registered in the Hundred Rolls of Norfolk in 1275, Roger atte Buske noted in the "Proceedings of the Suffolk Institute of Archaeology" (1305) and Roland atte Bushe recorded in the "Calendar of Plea and Memoranda Rolls" in London (1384). Katheryn Buske was christened at St. Margaret, Westminster, London on October 26th 1567, while on November 21st 1587 Jone Busk married Richard Jones at St. Dunstan, Stepney, London. Also in London at St. Giles, Cripplegate, Edward Barloo married Isabell Buske on December 1st 1603. Some of the Busk's in England can trace their ancestry to Jacob Hans Busck, who died in 1755 having been a wool merchant from Gottenburg, who settled in England in 1712. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Richard de la Busce, which was dated 1181, The Pipe Rolls of Yorkshire, during the reign of King Henry 11, The Builder of Churches, 1154 - 1189. 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.