Deeman

According to the Inernational Genealogical Index this interesting and unusual name is of early medieval English origin. It is recorded in many forms including Daman, Damen, Deman, Deeman, Dayman, Diamond, Dymond, Diment and others, and several quite separate interpretations and derivations. Firstly it may be an occupational surname for a herdsman or dairy-man, derived from the Middle English words daye or deye with the suffix 'man,' meaning in this case one who works. A statute of 1363 describes such people as "cowherds, shepherds, swineherds, deyes, and all other keepers of live stock", with as an example Richard le Deymon in the Staffordshire Subsidy Tax rolls of 1332. The second and third possible sources of the surname are pre Medieval but this time from the personal name "Daye" itself from the pre 7th century "Daei", from the word "daeg", meaning day, or as a short or fused form of the Anglo-Saxon personal names Daegberht and Daegmund. The excrescent "d" of the spellings as Dymond and Diamond are due to 17th century folk etymology from the precious stones (diamonds). Willelmus Dymond is listed in the Yorkshire Poll Tax Returns for 1379, and Robert Damon was an early emigrant to the New World colonies, leaving London on the ship "Hopewell" in February 1634, bound for the Barbadoes. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Stephen Deyman. This was dated 1224, in the Curia Regis Rolls of Buckinghamshire, during the reign of King Henry 111rd of England, 1216 - 1272. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.