Fowls

This interesting and uncommon name is of Anglo-Saxon origin, and derives from the Old English pre 7th Century word "fugol", fowl, bird, which was used as a byname and as a personal name. The personal name is recorded in the Winton Rolls of 1066, from Hampshire, as "Fugel", and first appears as a surname in the mid 12th Century as below. The medieval form of the word was the Middle English development "foul, fowl(e)", used as a continuation of the Old English personal name and also as a nickname for someone who in some way resembled a bird. The modern surname from this source has a number of variant forms, ranging from Gowle, Fowell, Fuggle and Vowell to the patronymics Fowl(e)s, Vowel(l)s, Vouls and Fuggles. One Nicholas le Fowel is recorded in the Worcestershire Subsidy Rolls of 1275. The marriage of John Fowle and Judyth Lyndeth was recorded on September 6th 1579 at St. James's, Clerkenwell, London. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Wuluard Fugel, which was dated 1166, in the Pipe Rolls of Kent, during the reign of King Henry 11, known as "The Builder of Churches", 1154 - 1189. 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.