Ower

This interesting and uncommon name is of Anglo-Saxon origin, and can be either a topographical or a locational surname. As the former, the name "Over" and its variant forms Ower, Owers and Nowers, denotes residence on the bank of a river or on a slope. The derivation is from the Old English pre 7th Century term "ofer", with a long "o", which could mean seashore or riverbank, but which had an earlier distinct (unaccented) form "ofer", meaning slope, bank or ridge. The two meanings had combined into the one term in Middle English, "over(e)". As a locational surname, "Over" can derive from any one of places so named in Cheshire, Derbyshire, Cambridgeshire and Gloucestershire. The places are named according to their situation, for instance "Over" in Cambridgeshire is on a riverbank, while "Over" in Cheshire and Derbyshire are on slopes. The marriage of William Over and Jone Higgens was recorded at St. Dunstan's, Stepney, London, on August 24th 1574. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Thomas atte Overe, which was dated 1275, in the "Worcestershire Subsidy Rolls", during the reign of King Edward 1, known as "The Hammer of the Scots", 1272 - 1307. 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.