This rare name is a dialectual variant of the locational name Hanslope, which derives from the Hamlets of that name in Buckinghamshire, and Oxfordshire. The first element is a personal name 'Hama' of unknown origin, and the second 'slaep' an Olde English pre 7th Century word, meaning a slippery, miry place. In the Middle Ages when more and more people migrated from the place of birth to seek work, it became usual to adopt the village name as a means of identification, thus resulting in the wide dispersal of the name. One Charles Handslip, the infant son of James and Ann Handslip was christened at St. Mary, Whitechapel, Stepney on 5th May 1699. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Winemarus de Hanslepe, which was dated 1086, the Domesday Book, Northants, during the reign of King William I, The Conqueror, 1066 - 1087. 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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