This unusual and interesting name has two possible origins, both Anglo-Saxon. Firstly, it may derive from the Old English pre 7th Century personal name "Goldhere", which is composed of the elements "gold", gold, with "here", army. The personal name appears in the Essex Pipe Rolls of 1197: Henricus filius (son of) Goldere, and the first recording of the surname from this source occurs in the 1296 Subsidy Rolls of Sussex, where one John Golder(e) is listed. The second possible origin for the modern surname is locational, from the place called "Golder" in Oxfordshire. The placename is recorded in 987 as "Goldhora", in the "Saxon Codex", and in the 1236 Close Rolls of the county as "Goldor". The name means "slope where marigolds grew", derived from the Old English "golde", marigold, with "ora", slope. In some cases the name may be topographical in origin, for someone who lived by such a place. One William Golder was an early emigrant to the New World colonies, leaving London on the "George" in August 1635, bound from Virginia. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Matthew de Goldore, which was dated 1275, in the "Hertfordshire Hundred Rolls", during the reign of King Edward 1, known as "The Hammer of the Scots", 1272 - 1307. 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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