This French surname is found in the usual anglicized spellings of Deport, Deporte, Depport, and the amazing "Dapart", this latter variety being the first proven recording in Elizabethan times! However although this suggests that "de port's" were already in London before the Huguenot persecution, it is as a Huguenot name that the main impetus was to come. The name was originally topographical or perhaps job descriptive for a person who lived by the city gate(s), or who was an official in charge of the gates. It is probable that the original spelling was "du Port", families of that name being recorded as Protestants in the language region. The name recording and development in the U.K. includes Samuel Deport who married Sarah Stroode at the church of St. Antholin in Budge Row London, on April 15th 1727, Moses De Porto, recorded in Stepney on October 6th 1734, and John Deporte of Westminster, who married at St. Martins in the Field, on April 8th 1760. On June 15th 1865, William Otto Albert Depport was recorded at Liverpool Cathedral, Lancashire, as a witness at his son's John christening. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of John Dapart, which was dated April 8th 1560, christened at St. Bartholomew Church, The Exchange, London, during the reign of Queen Elizabeth 1, known as "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.