Pomeroy

This interesting and unusual surname derives from two possible origins. It may be of French locational origin from any of the following places in France, La Pommeraye, in Calvados and Seine-Inferieure, or Saint Sauveur La-Pommeraie in La Manche, which received their name from the old French "Pommeroie", meaning apple orchard, from the Latin word "pomum", apple. Also the name may have been a topographical name for a "dweller by the apple orchard", from the same old French word "pommeraie", as above. The surname dates back to the Domesday Book of 1086. Samson de la Pumeray was recorded in the Curia Rolls of Oxfordshire in the year 1200, while the Assize Court Rolls of Somerset in 1225, mentions one Henry de la Pomereie. One Robert Pomeroy appears in the 1327 Subsidy Rolls of Somerset. The name found widespread in Devon can be traced to Ralph de la Pomerai (see below), a close associate of William the Conqueror, whose family lived for over 500 years in the castle of Berry Pomeroy, near Totnes, Devon. Arthur Pomeroy accompanied the Earl of Essex in 1573 on his Irish Campaign. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Ralph de Pomerai, which was dated 1086, in the Domesday Book of Devonshire and Somerset, during the reign of King William 1, known as "William the Conqueror", 1066 - 1087. 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.