This unusual name is of Anglo-Saxon origin, and is a locational surname from the place called "Pickworth" in Lincolnshire. The placename is first recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as "Picheuuorde", and by 1170 as "Pickewurtha". The derivation is from the Olde English pre 7th Century personal name "Pica", probably originally a nickname for a tall thin person, from a Germanic element meaning "sharp" or "pointed", with "worth", or "wyrth", having the early meaning of fence or enclosure and later a fenced, enclosed homestead. The marriage of John Pickforthe and Rachell Browne was recorded on the 9th July 1566 at New Sleaford in Lincolnshire. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Wyll Pecworthe, christened, which was dated 7th of January 1561, Great and Little Hale, Lincolnshire, during the reign of Queen Elizabeth 1, known as "Good Queen Bess", 1558 - 1603. 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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