This unusual and interesting name is of early medieval English origin, and is an "ethnic" surname given in the first instance to immigrant weavers from the Netherlands during the 14th and 15th Centuries. The derivation is from the Middle English term "dutch", dutch, adopted from the Middle Dutch "dutsch"; this term was used of people from Holland and the Netherlands, although since circa 1600 its use has been gradually restricted in England to the netherlanders, with whom the English came most in contact. Many Dutch weavers and skilled cloth-workers were invited to England during the 14th and 15th Centuries, when England's production of wool was at its height. The surname from this source can be found as Douch, Doutch, and Dutch. One Willyam Doutch was christened in Hove, Sussex, on October 9th 1600, and the marriage of Patrick Douch and Elizabeth Clark was recorded in London in 1689. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of John Duche, which was dated 1360, Court Rolls of the Borough of colchester, Essex, during the reign of King Edward 111, "The Father of the Navy", 1327 - 1377. 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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