This is an Anglo-Saxon occupational name derived from the Olde English pre 7th Century "mylnere" meaning the "operator of the mill". The mill was an important centre in every medieval settlement, where peasants gathered to have their corn ground into flour. The miller often kept a proportion of the ground corn by way of payment. The surname from this source is first recorded towards the end of the 13th Century, and is found in the records of every county in England. One John le Mellere is recorded in the Writs of Parliament, circa 1300. In the 1327 Subsidy Rolls of Sussex, a Reginald Miller appears. In the modern idiom the name is spelt Miller or Millar (the latter being a Scottish form). Recordings from London Church Registers include: the marriage of Elisabeth Myllar and Thomas Myles at St. Stephen's, Coleman Street, on June 25th 1553; and the christening of Anna, daughter of George and Annae Millar, at St. Ann's, Blackfriars, on April 7th 1638. One David Millar, together with his wife Rose, daughters Ann and Mary-Jane, and son Robert, who were famine emigrants, sailed from Belfast aboard the "Glenmore" bound for New York, in February 1847. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Ralph Muller, which was dated 1296, in the "Subsidy Rolls of Sussex", 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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