Wonfor

This very unusual name is recorded in the spelling Wonfor and Wonfer, the latter being very rare indeed. However, no recordings appear before the mid 18th Century and then only in the London area. The name is in fact locational and a derivative of the Olde English pre 7th Century "waen-forda", which translates as "the (shallow) crossing of the water meadow", and it is found in the Devonshire village names of Wonford, recorded as "Wenforda" in the 1086 Domesday Book. The name development and recording includes Thomas Winfor, who married Sarah Ann Correll on November 13th 1771, at St. Leonard's Church, Shoreditchshire, London, and Sarah Ann Wonfor, the daughter of the above, who was christened at the Church of St. George in the East, Stepney, also in London, on January 25th 1804. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Thomas Wonfor, which was dated January 11th 1746, a witness at St. Botolph's Church, Bishopsgate, London, during the reign of King George 11, known as "The Last Warrior King", 1727 - 1760. 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.