This interesting surname with variant spellings Pottle, Pottell, etc., is a diminutive of Pot, an aphetic form of the Middle English given name Philipot, itself a diminutive of the personal name Philip (from the Greek Philippos, from philein "to love" plus "hippos" "horse") plus the hypocoristic suffix "ot". The surname dates back to the mid 13th Century, (see below). Further recordings include one Richard Potel (1279) "The Hundred Rolls of Buckinghamshire". Church recordings include one Agnes Pottle who married Richard Gwyn on May 2nd 1560, at St. Botolph's, Bishopsgate, London, Richard Pottell married Agnes Bowmer on July 11th 1564 at St. Gregory by St. Paul, London, and John Pottle married Susan Haies on July 30th 1598, at St. Katherine by the Tower, London. One Christopher Pottle, an early emigrant to the New World, purchased a ticket in the Barbados on May 13th 1679, for further travel to Topsham aboard the Pink Dymond. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Durant Potel, which was dated 1243, in the "Assize Court of Somerset", during the reign of King Henry 111, known as "The Frenchman", 1216 - 1272. 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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