Gipson

This unusual name is a variant form of the more familiar surname "Gibson". The surnames Gibson, Gipson and Gypson are patronymic forms of the popular medieval given name "Gib(b)" or "Gipp", short forms of the male given name "Gilbert". The origin of the name is Norman (French), introduced into England after the Conquest of 1066 as "Gislebert, Gil(l)ebert", recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as "Gislebertus", the Latinized form. The Normans adopted the name from the Old German "Gisilbert", composed of the elements 'gisil', hostage, noble youth, and "berht", bright, famous. In England it quickly became popular and generated a wide variety of variant forms; Gipp appears first as a short form in Lincolnshire in 1150, as in Bippa de Neuhus, and Gibb in 1179, when Gibbe de Huckenhale is recorded in the Pipe Rolls of Northamptonshire. One Robert Gipson appears in the Subsidy Rolls of Suffolk in 1524, and the christening of Anne Gypson was recorded in Worksop, Nottinghamshire, on July 23rd 1693. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Henry Gibsone, which was dated 1311, in the "Records of the Borough of Nottinghamshire", during the reign of King Edward 11, known as "Edward of Caernafon", 1307 - 1327. 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.