Shewring

This interesting and unusual name is a variant form of the more familiar surname "Sherwin" or "Sherwen", also found as "Sherrin" and "Sherring". The name is of Anglo-Saxon origin, and is one of that sizeable group of English and European surnames that were created from the habitual use of nicknames; in this instance, the nickname was originally given to a swift runner. The derivation of the name is from the Olde English pre 7th Century "sceran", to cut, with "wind", wind, using the sense of something "cutting (through) wind" to describe a fast runner. In Middle English the name became "Scherewind". The development of the surname includes: John Shirwyn (1479, Norfolk), John Sherwyn (1524, Suffolk), Ann Sharing (1595, Kent), Thomas Sherwinge (1596, Norfolk) and Ann Sherwring (1725, Lincolnshire). The last two examples illustrate the near transposition of the "r" and "w" to "Sherwring", a mainly 18th Century development. One John Shewring was christened in Lewisham, on December 20th 1713. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Gilbert Scerewind, which was dated circa 1160, in "Documents relating to the Danelaw in Lincolnshire", during the reign of King Henry 11, known as "The Builder of Churches", 1154 - 1189. 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.