This interesting surname of English origin is a topographical name for someone who lived near a boundary post, deriving from the Middle English "staple" (Old English pre 7th Century "stapol") meaning "post", "pillar", or a locational name from some place named Staple, for example Staple in Kent or Staple Fitzpaine in Somerset. The place name is recorded as Staples in 1205. The surname dates back to the late 13th Century, (see below). Further recordings include one Walter de Stapel (1275), "The Subsidy Rolls of Worcestershire", and Osmund atte Staple (1279), "The Place Names of Surrey". Variations in the idiom of the spelling include Stapele, Stapels, Stapells, John Stapell was christened at St. Mary, Bothaw, London, on April 20th 1558. Betters Staples was christened on November 29th 1562, at Christchurch, Greyfriars, Newgate, London, and John Staples was christened on September 1566, at St. Margaret Pattens, London. One, Mathew Staples is recorded in the Militia Rolls of the Barbados in 1679. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Robert de Stapel, which was dated 1273, "The Hundred Rolls of Kent", during the reign of King Edward 1, known as "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.