This great and noble name borne by the Earls of Westmorland, Northumberland, Salisbury, Warwickshire and Kent is of French locational origin from Neuville in Calvados or Neville in Seine-Maritime, Normandy, both so called from the Old French "neu(f)" meaning new, plus "ville", a settlement, hence "new settlement". The surname was introduced into England by the Normans after the Conquest of 1066, and it is first recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 (see below); the name bearers most likely being followers of William the Conqueror who were granted lands in England. The names Neville and Nevill are particularly well recorded in London Church Registers from the late 15th Century. On July 12th 1472, Anne Neville married Richard 111, King of England, in Westminster Abbey, and on May 3rd 1513, a son, Christopher, was born to Richard Baron Latimer Nevill and Ann Baroness Latimer Stafford in Grey's Inn. On January 7th 1587, Edmund Nevill, Earl of Westmoreland, and Jane Smythe, Countess of Westmoreland, were married in the Tower of London. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Ralph de Neuilla and Richard de Nouvilla, which was dated 1086, in the Domesday Book, during the reign of King William 1, known as "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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