This is an ancient name of Anglo-Saxon origins, when it was a personal compound consisting of the elements "Gar" meaning "Spear" and "Bert" which translates as "The Herald". The name, as a personal name is recorded as "Gerbdo" in the 1086 Domesday Book, and again in Lincoln (Gerbodo de Sault) in the Pipe Rolls of 1185. Modern variants of the name are Garber, Gerbert, Garbutt and Garbott. Following the first recognizable recording as shown, the name development includes Thomas Gerbot, a witness at the Stafford Assize Court in 1302, whilst John Garbot is shown in the Friary Rolls of York in 1397, whilst James Garbett (Garbutt) is recorded in the same register but two hundred years later in 1602, during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of William Gerbode, which was dated 1185, in the "County Pipe Rolls of Huntingdonshire", during the reign of King Henry 11, known as "The Church Builder", 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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