This interesting name has three possible origins. Firstly, it may be a patronymic from the Olde English pre 7th Century "munuc" or "munec", a monk, a nickname for someone of monkish habits or appearance or an occupational name for a servant employed at a monastery, plus the suffex "son", son of. The name may also be a variant of the Scottish "Manson", from "Magnusson", son of Magnus, a Norse personal name, which was a common in Shetland. Finally, the name may also be locational from "Munstone", a place two miles north of Hereford. Aylric Munec was mentioned in the Anglo-Saxon Wills, circa 1045, while Jonas Filius Magni was one of those who laid charges against David Meyuer of Weem in 1427. Cuthebert, son of Peter Munson, was christened on February 23rd 1540, at St. Leonard's, Eastcheap, London, while a male Manson was christened at St. Mary Magdalene, Bermondsey, London, on April 12th 1554. At the same church, Agnes Manson married Thomas Preston on July 7th 1555. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of John Mannisson, which was dated 1305, in the "Feet of Fines of Staffordshire", during the reign of King Edward 1, known as "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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