Recorded in a number of spellings including Beautyman, Bootman, Bootiman, and Boothman, this most interesting surname is of pre 7th century Olde English and Anglo-Saxon origins. It is an occupational name for a cowman or herdsman, or someone who worked in a dairy or cowhouse. It originates from the elements "bothe", meaning a barn, plus "man", which in this context means the one in charge, the foreman. The initial element "bothe" also gives us the surname Booth or Boothe, which is today popular and widespread in the North of England. Job descriptive surnames originally denoted the actual occupation of the namebearer, and later became hereditary. The surname itself first appears in records in the late 13th Century (see below), whilst other early recordings of the name include Nicholas le Bouthman, mentioned in the Assize Court Rolls of Cheshire in 1287, and Henry Bootheman, who was recorded in the Calendar of Pleadings, during the time of Elizabeth 1 (1558 - 1603). Elizabeth Beautyman, possibly a deliberate mis-spelling, married Robert Williams, at the famous church of St Katherine by the Tower (of London) on January 4th 1684, and the parish registers of St Andrews in "the Barbadoes" record John Boothman as a landowner in the parish in June 1680. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Roger Bothman, which was dated 1279, in the "Hundred Rolls of Huntingdonshire", during the reign of King Edward 1, known as "The Hammer of the Scots", 1272 - 1307.

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