This most unusual and interesting surname has two possible sources. Firstly, it may be of early medieval English origin, deriving from the Middle English female personal name "Aldus", which itself is a pet form of any of the numerous Olde English pre 7th Century personal names borne by both sexes with "eald", old, as the initial element, for example "Ealdgyth", old combat. The personal name is recorded as "Alduse" in the 1168 Yorkshire Pipe Rolls as "Aldusa" in 1219. The surname may also be of Scottish origin, as a variant of "Aldis", which is of locational origin from the lands of Auldhous in the parish of Eastwood, Renfrewshire. The place is named with the Olde English elements "eald", old, with "hus", house, although an unlikely etymology has also been suggested, from the Gaelic "alld", burn, with "fhuathais", goblin. The first recording of the surname, below, is from this Scottish locational source. Early examples of the surname in England include: Peter Aldus (1230, Norfolk); Peter Aldous (1327, Suffolk); and William Aldowes (1524, ibid.). The modern forms of the name range from Aldous, Aldus, Aldhouse and Al(l)dis(s) to Audis and Oldis. Aldous is found particularly in East Anglia; the rector of Werningham, Norfolk, in 1393, was so called. Nathan, son of Nathan and Susan Aldous, was christened at Redenhall with Harleston in Norfolk on August 4th 1667. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Roger de Aldhouse, which was dated 1265, in the "Register of the Monastery of Passelet", during the reign of King Alexander 11 of Scotland, 1249 - 1286. 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.

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