Straw

This interesting name has two possible origins. The first being occupational for one dealing in straw, deriving from the Olde English 'streaw'. The name may also have been a nickname given to someone with straw coloured hair or to a particularly thin person. It is also recorded in Germany as Stron, from Giessen and has a Coat of Arms with a peasant soldier on a gold field. Strumanger and Struminger are rare names from the Olde English 'streaw' and 'mangere' one Thomas le Straumonger is recorded in 1346. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Thomas Straw which was dated 1367 Colchester in Essex during the reign of King Edward 111 The Father of the Navy 1327 - 1377. 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.