This interesting name is a dialectal variant of "Bones" which is a patronymic (i.e. son of) from "Bone", of Norman/French origin, from the old French "bon", good, from the Latin "bonus". The name was introduced into England after the Conquest of 1066, and may have been bestowed in a complimentary or ironic sense on a 'good' person. The second possible origin is also from a nickname which is found mainly in the north of England, as 'Bain', and was given to an exceptionally tall, lean person. The derivation is from the Old English pre 7th Century 'ban', bone, in northern dialects the long 'a' was preserved, whereas in the southern dialect it was changed to an 'o' sound. The variants of the name from both sources include 'Bone', 'Bunn', 'Bonn', 'Boon(e)', and 'Ba(yne)'. One Roger Bone is recorded in the Kent Hundred Rolls of 1273. Elizabeth Boanas married Thomas Piper on March 30th 1834 at St. Pancras, London. The name is also found as Bonass in Ireland. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Edward le Bon, which was dated 1204, The Oxfordshire Curia Rolls, during the reign of King John, known as 'Lackland', 1199 - 1216. 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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