Edge

Recorded as Edge, the dininutives Egget and Eggit, and the patronymic Edgeson and Edgson, this is an English surname. It was originally habitational and found with the prefixes atte as in William atte Egge recorded in the Worcester Rolls of 1327, or the frenchified 'del' as in Henry del Egge recorded in 1221 in the reign of KIng Henry 111rd (1216 - 1272). The derivation was from the pre 7th Century word 'ecg' meaning one who dwelt on a steep hill although in the case of John sub Egge, recorded in the City Rolls for Sheffield in 1290, the reverse must have applied. However once Edge became a surname it also developed both diminitives and the patronymics above. Early examples of recordings include Jone Edge who married Mathew Wolton on January 10th 1567 at the church of St. Mary Somerset, city of London, and Thomas Edgeson who married Susan Seymer at St Dunstans in the East, Stepney, on May 23rd 1643. One of the earliest recorded settlers to the new American Colonies was Robert Edge, aged 25, who sailed in the ship Hopewell bound for Virginia on September 15th 1635. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was sometimes known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.