This interesting name, though apparently occupational for one in charge of goats i.e. "master of the goats" is in fact, locational from Buckminster in Leicestershire. Recorded as Bucheminstre in the Domesday Book of 1086 and as Buccemenistre in the 1180 Pipe Rolls of that county, the first element is the Olde English pre 7th Century personal\nickname Bucc(a) originally given to a man with some fancied resemblance to a he-goat, (perhaps a particular style of beard), plus the Olde English "mynster" a monastery or minster. The surname from this source is first recorded in the latter half of the 12th Century, (see below). Simon de Bokminster appears in the 1295 Leicestershire County Rolls and a William Buckmaster in the Cambridge University Register, dated 1517. On November 17th 1822, James, son of Thomas and Mary Bockmaster, was christened in Isleworth, London. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Adam de (of) Bucemenistere, which was dated circa 1180 "The Pipe Rolls of Leicestershire", during the reign of King Henry II, The Builder of Churches, 1154 - 1189. 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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