Recorded in many spelling forms including Pool, Poole, Pole (English), and Pohl, Pohler, Pohling, Polmann (German), this is a surname which may have any of four origins. The first is locational or residential and in England from the village of Poole near the city of Chester, or from the town Poole in Dorset, or perhaps other places called Pool or Poole in the British Isles, or in Germany from Pohl, the second is topographical and describes somebody who lived by a Pool or Pohl, and the third is occupational for a person who worked at or on water, probably a tidal stream. The last possibility is that at least fro some nameholders the derivation is from the Christian name Paul, and originally described a follower of the apostle. Early examples of recordings include Roger de Pole in the Pipe Rolls for the county of Wiltshire in 1191, Robert Poole, of Poole, Chester, in 1280, and in Germany Claus Pohler of Niederingelheim in 1364. The first recorded spelling of the family name anywhere in the world is believed to be that of Mauritius de la Pole. This was dated 1176, in the "Pipe Rolls of Devonshire", during the reign of King Henry 11nd of England, and known as "The Builder of Churches", 1154 - 1189. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was sometimes known as the Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.