This ancient name is of Anglo-Saxon origin, and is a locational surname deriving from any one of the various places in England called Holland or Hoyland, such as those in Essex, Lancashire, Lincolnshire and Yorkshire. These places are recorded in the Domesday Book of 1085 as "Holanda, Holand, Hoiland", and "Holant", respectively. All the places so called share the same meaning and derivation, which is "land on or by a ridge", from the Olde English pre 7th Century "hoh", ridge, spur of a hill, with "land", and. Locational surnames were acquired by local landowners, and the lord of the manor, and especially by those former inhabitants of a place who had settled elsewhere, and used the name of their birthplace as a means of identification. The placename Holland has generated a number of surnames, ranging from Holland and Hollands to Howland and Hoyland. Early examples of the surname include William de Holaund (1246, Lancashire), and Johannes de Holand (1379, Yorkshire). Recordings from various Church Registers include: the marriage of John Howland and Blanche Nightingale at Newport in Essex, on July 15th 1576, and the christening of Giles Howland on December 5th 1583, at St. Bartholomew Exchange, London. A Coat of Arms granted to a Howland family in 1584 depicts, on a silver shield, two black bars, in chief two black lions rampant. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Begmundus de Holande, which was dated circa 975, in the "Book of Ely" (for Essex), during the reign of Edward the Martyr, King of England, 975 - 978. 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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