Bloomfield - Meno

This interesting surname is of early medieval English origin, and is a locational name from either of the two places thus called in England, one in Staffordshire, and the other in Somerset, or it may be a dialectal variant of Blonville (-sur-Mer) in Calvados, Normandy, and hence a Norman habitation name. The English places are most likely named with the Middle English "blom, blome", ultimately from the Old Norse "blom", flower, blossom, and "feld", pasture, open country. The first element of Blonville, Normandy, is an Old Norse personal name, and the second is the Old French "ville", settlement. Locational surnames were originally given to the lord of the manor, and as a means of identification to those who left their place of birth to settle elsewhere. The surname has long been associated with Norfolk; one John de Blomevile was noted in the 1249 Feet of Fines of that county, and on September 17th 1575, Jane Bloomfield and George Brown were married in Bedingham, Norfolk. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of William de Blunuill, which was dated 1207, in the "Curia Regis Rolls of Suffolk", during the reign of King John, known as "Lackland", 1199 - 1216. 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.