Audley

This interesting name is of Anglo-Saxon origin, and is a locational surname deriving from the place called "Audley" near Lichfield in Staffordshire. The placename is recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as "Aldidelege", and in the Staffordshire Pipe Rolls of 1182 as "Aldithelega". The name means "Ealdgith's glade", derived from the Old English pre 7th Century female personal name "Ealdgith", composed of the elements "eald", old, and "gyth", battle, with "leah", this wood, galde, clearing. Locational surnames were usually acquired by those former inhabitants of a place who has moved to another area, and were thereafter best identified by the name of their birthplace. The marriage of John Audley and Frances Page was recorded at Tottenham in London on September 22nd 1577. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Alice Audley (christening), which was dated 1225, Tunstall by Stoke upon Trent, Staffordshire, during the reign of King Henry 111, "The Frenchman", 1216 - 1272. 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.