This interesting and ancient surname is of Anglo-Saxon origin, and derives from the Olde English pre 7th Century personal name "Eadric", Middle English personal name "Edrich, Ederick", which is composed of the Olde English elements "ead", prosperity, fortune, and "-ric", power. Pre 7th Century Anglo-Saxon and Old Norse baptismal names were usually distinctive compounds whose elements were often associated with the Gods of Fire, Water and War, or composed of disparate elements, as in this case. The personal name is found in the Domesday Book of 1086 as "Aedricus, Edric(us)", while Edrich Buck is recorded in the Hundred Rolls of Norfolk of 1273. The surname itself is first recorded in the late 12th Century (see below), while Robert Edrich appears in 1200, in the Pipe Rolls of Hampshire, and Robert Eadric is mentioned in 1221, in the Cartulary of Oseney Abbey, Oxford. William, son of William Edridge, was christened on January 15th 1619, at Farnham in Surrey. A Coat of Arms granted to a family of the name at Pockeredge House in Wiltshire depicts a silver lion rampant, in chief a pheon between two silver lions' heads erased, on a red shield. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Thomas Hedricus, which was dated 1185, in the "Records of the Templars in England in the 12th Century (Gloucestershire), during the reign of King Henry 11, known as "The Builder of Churches", 1154 - 1189. 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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