This interesting name is of Anglo-Saxon origin, and is a locational surname deriving from the place called 'Chipperfield' near Watford, in south-west Hertfordshire. The placename means 'the market field', derived from the Old English pre 7th Century verb 'ceapere', to merchant, market, a derivative of 'ceap', barter, bargain, price, property, which in Middle English became 'chap', producing the modern surname 'Chapman', with Old English 'feld', pasture, open country, plain. The place was probably an open space where markets were held. One Edmond Chipperfield was an early emigrant to America; he left London on the 'Hopewell' in September 1635, bound for New England, while in London in 1618, John Chipperfield was married to Dorothy Corranyell on the 14th of April. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Katherine Chipperfielde (marriage to Thomas Coleman) which was dated 28th April 1566, Anstey, Hertfordshire, during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, 'Good Queen Bess', 1558 - 1603. 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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