This surname is derived from the Old English pre 7th Century "budda" meaning "beetle" plus "leah" "wood" or "clearing". It originated as a locational name possibly from Budleigh in the dioceses of Exeter, Devon, which is referred to as Bodelie in "The Domesday Book of 1086", and was given to one residing in this area. The name dates back to the late 13th Century (see below). Recordings include Dennis de Buddelegh "The Hundred Rolls of Devon" (1273) and John de Bodet, "The Hundred Rolls of Cambridgeshire" (1273). Variations in the idiom of the spelling include: Bodely, Bodele, Bodell, Boodell, Bodily, Buddleigh and Bodleigh. Eliatha, daughter of Moses Bodell, was christened at St. Mary's, Whitechapel, Stepney, London, on August 12th 1604, and Joanna Bodell married Adam Johnstone at St. Martin-in-the-Fields, Westminster, on April 18th 1620. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of William de Bodele, which was dated 1273, in the Hundred Rolls of Cambridgeshire, during the reign of King Edward l, known as "The Hammer of the Scots", 1272 - 1307. 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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