This most interesting surname is of Anglo-Saxon and Old Scandinavian origin, and is an English locational name from Flitcroft, according to one source, a place in Lancashire. The placename is composed of the Olde English "fleot", Old Norse "fljot", which in placenames means an estuary, tidal stream or inlet, and the second element, the Olde English "croft", a farm or a piece of enclosed land used for tillage or pasture, arable land adjacent to a house. During the Middle Ages when migration for the purpose of job-seeking was becoming more common, people often took their former village name as a means of identification, thus resulting in a wide dispersal of the name. Early recordings of the surname include: the marriage of Elizabeth Flytcrofte and Henry Haughton on December 10th 1579, at Leigh, Lancashire; the christening of Henrie Flitcroft at Winwick, on August 1st 1581; and the marriage of Edward Flytcrofte and Isabell Rigbie on February 22nd 1581 at Leigh. Nicolas Flitcroft, aged 16 yrs., was one of the early settlers in the New World, having embarked from London for the Barbadoes on the "Faulcon" in April 1635. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of George Flitcrofte, which was dated October 2nd 1564, a christening witness at Winwick, Lancashire, 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.