Glasper

This rare and unusual surname is probably English and locational. If so it may derive from a 'lost' medieval village called 'Glas-pol' translating as the 'still pool'. The precise site is not known but is believed to have been in the Lancashire-Cheshire area. The surname as 'Glaspool or Glaspole', whilst rare, is well recorded, and it maybe that 'Glasper' refers to a person from 'Glas-pol'. 'Glasper' may however be an anglicised form of the German 'Glasner', a word describing a maker of glass, except that the word 'glazier' had already been introduced by the Norman-French in the 12th century and this is a popular surname in its own right. There is at least one other possible explanation, and that is that the name was originally foreign and was given an 'English' appearance. This was by no means uncommon particularly in the 17th and 18th centuries, when many thousands of Huguenots fled from Europe to escape the persecution by the Catholic countries. We do not have proven supporting evidence, nor do there appear to be any continental surnames of a similar pattern, with which to compare, other than those concerned with glass-making. The name is recorded in Lancashire in the 17th century, and appears in the same registers as the name 'Glaspole'. It is first recorded in London in 1790, when a William Glasper was a witness at the church of St Mary-le-Bone, on March 28th of that year, although 'Glasper' does not seem to be recorded in the current London registers. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of William Glasper, which was dated November 10th 1689, a witness at St Johns church, Deansgate, Manchester, during the reign of William and Mary, who reigned as joint monarchs, 1688 - 1693. 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.