This appears to be an early Huguenot name deriving from the Olde French "corne" itself coming from the late Latin "corna" meaning "horn" and originally given as a metonymic occupational name to a worker in horn, or perhaps a horn-blower. Horn was a commonly used material in the Middle Ages for the making of small artifacts. The surname is well recorded in London church Registers as Coorn, Corne and Corn from the mid 16th Century onwards. On February 22nd 1579, the christening of Tobias Corne took place in St. Michael's Cornhill and on January 14th 1621, Agnes Corn, daughter of Thomas and Ann Corn, was christened in St. Botolph, Bishopsgate. It is also possible that Corn may be an English metonymic, ocupational name for a corn dealer, but this is unproven. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Rychard Coorn, married Emmott Latham, which was dated July 15th, 1543 at St. Margaret, Westminster, London, during the reign of King V111, known as "Good King Hal", 1509 - 1547. 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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