Whebell

This interesting and uncommon name is one of the variant forms of the locational surname Webley or Weebley, which is of Anglo-Saxon origin, and derives from the place called Weobley near the town of Hereford in Herefordshire. The place is recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as 'Wibelai', and in the Fees Court Rolls of the county of 1250 as 'Webbel'. The name means 'the wood or glade associated with Wibba', derived from the Old English pre 7th Century personal name 'Wibba', and 'leah', wood, glade, clearing in a wood. Locational surnames were acquired especially by those former inhabitants of a place who had moved to another area, and were thereafter best identified by the name of their birthplace. The surname development in London includes: Webla (1560), Wheable (1616), Wheble (1693), Wheebell (1737) and Webell (1746). The marriage of Jonathan Whebell and Ann Thompson was recorded at Allhallows, London Wall, on November 20th 1746. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Bettresse Webley (christening), which was dated August 1552, St. Margaret's, Westminster, London, during the reign of King Edward V1, 'The Boy King', 1547 - 1553. 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.