The origin of this name is one of the oldest recorded, the development being from the Ancient British "Ffraw" meaning "Fair" and pre-dating the Roman Invasion. In this case the surname is locational from one of the towns and Villages called Frome or Froome in Dorset, Somerset, Gloucester and Hueford. The place name is first recorded in the Anglo Saxon Chronicles for 701 AD, as "From or Fron" first appearing as Frome in 869 AD. The surname development is of course later, the name lineage including Peter Frum (1596, Stepney) whilst in 1614 Olivia Froome married at St. Martins in the Field and in 1729, Mary Froom, married at St. Georges, Mayfair, London. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Walter de Frome. which was dated 1273, The Pipe Rolls of Oxford County. during the reign of King Edward I, the Hammer of the Scots, 1272 - 1307. 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.