This ancient and unusual name, found mainly in the northern counties of England and in Scotland, is of Anglo-Saxon origin, and a locational surname from the place called Corbridge in Northumberland, near Hexham. The placename is recorded as "Corebricg" in 1050 in the "History" of St. Cuthbert, and as "Corebrigge" in the Northumberland Pipe Rolls of 1158, and is believed to be so named from the Roman "Corstopitum", whose site was at nearby Corchester. The name was considerably shortened by Anglo-Saxon times, and only the first syllable preserved, with the later addition of the Olde English pre 7th Century "brycg", bridge. Locational surnames were acquired especially by those former inhabitants of a place who had moved to another area, usually in search of work, and were thereafter best identified by the name of their birthplace. The surname is recorded very early in Northumberland, where the marriage of Richard Corbridge and Emma (no surname given) is entered in the Parish Registers of Newcastle-upon-Tyne in 1249. In Scotland, Alexander de Correbrige was cleric to King Alexander 111, and William de Corbridge was a monk of Jedburgh in 1296. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Joel Corbridge, which was dated 1100, in the Hexham Parish Registers, Northumberland, during the reign of King William 11, known as "Rufus", 1087 - 1100. 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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