This interesting and unusual surname, with variant spellings Pulinger, Pol(l)inger, Pillinger etc., is a 16th Century dialectal variant of the occupational name Bullinger from the Old French "bolonger" or "boulengrer", baker. The surname from this source was first recorded in the latter part of the 12th Century, (see below). One, William Pullenger was noted in the "Archeologia Cantiana", dated 1553-1574. On September 14th 1590, Edward Pullinger and Ellyn Everest were married in St. Margaret Pattens, London, and on June 14th 1614, Joane Pullinger married a Robbartt Jefferye in St. Mary magdalene Old Fish Street, London. Recordings of surname variants include the marriage of John Polinger to Ellin Moore in St. Bartholomew the Less, on July 14th 1670. A Coat of Arms granted to the Pollinger family is divided quarterly red and gold with a laurel crowned bust in the first and fourth and a blue bend with three silver mullets (knights' spurs) in the second and fourth. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Terricus le Bulenger, which was dated 1180, The Pipe Rolls of Sussex, during the reign of King Henry 11, "The Builder of Churches", 1154 - 1189. 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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