This most interesting and unusual name derives from either of two sources. Firstly, it may be a dialectal variant of "Pawley", an English surname of Norman/French locational origin, from "Pavilly" in Seine-Maritime, which is composed of the Gallo-Roman personal name "Pavilius", plus the local suffix "-acum". Secondly, the name is most likely of English locational origin from "Pewsey", a place in Wiltshire, recorded as "Pefesigge" in 880 in the "Cartularium Saxonicum" and "Pevesie" in the Domesday Book of 1086. This placename is composed of the old English personal name "Pefe", plus the second element "-eg", "-ey", the old English and old Scandinavian words for "island or land surrounded by two streams". The earliest recording of the surname in the London church registers is the marriage of one Thomas Pawsey to Susanna Horning at St. Giles, Cripplegate on November 4th 1691. Thomas, son of Thomas and Mary Pausey was christened on September 6th 1775 at Caterham, Surrey. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Geoffrey Pauly, which was dated 1273, The Hundred Rolls of Cambridge, during the reign of King Edward 1st, "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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