This interesting and long-established surname is of early medieval English origin, and derives from the Old German male given name "Eburhard" or "Everhard", a compound of the elements "eber", wild boar, and "hard", hardy, brave, strong. Introduced into England by the Normans after the Conquest of 1066, the name is particularly well recorded in East Anglia, an area of dense Norman and Breton settlement. "Ebrard" and "Eurardus" (without surname) appear in the Domesday Book of 1086 for Norfolk and Cambridgeshire. The surname was first recorded at the beginning of the 13th Century (see below). The step between Everard and the later forms, Everett and Everitt, is Everad, as in Geoffrey Everad noted in the "Chartulary of Ramsey Abbey", Norfolk, dated 1300. Recordings of the surname from English Church Registers include: the marriage of Sarah Everett to Cornelius Fisher at Dilham, Norfolk, on July 25th 1565, and the marriage of Elizabeth Everitt to John Heyward at All Saints, Fulbourn, Cambridgeshire, on April 4th 1572. A notable bearer of the name was Allen Edward Everitt, secretary of the Royal Society of Artists of Birmingham, 1858 - 1882. The Everitt Coat of Arms is a silver shield with a fesse between three red estoiles, the Crest being a demi lady holding in the dexter hand a balance and scales, equally poised proper. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Richard Everard, which was dated 1204, in the "Pipe Rolls of Bedfordshire", during the reign of King John, known as "Lackland", 1199 - 1216. 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.