This interesting surname is of Anglo-Saxon origin, and is a locational name from "Redmain", near Cockermouth, in Cumberland. As a placename it is first recorded as "Redeman" in the Cumberland Pipe Rolls of 1184, and derives from the Olde English pre 7th Century "read", red, with "man", a northern English word meaning cairn, a pile of stones marking a summit. As a surname Redmain or Redmayne would therefore denote one who lived at or by the "red cairn". During the Middle Ages when migration for the purpose of job-seeking was becoming more common, people often took their former village name as a means of identification, thus resulting in a wide dispersal of the name. The surname is first recorded in the latter half of the 12th Century (see below). Recordings of the surname from London Church Registers include; John Redmayne, who married Jane Lawnde, on April 7th 1551 at St. Margaret's, Westminster; and Dorothie, daughter of Edmund and Elizabeth Redmayne, who was christened on May 15th 1627, at St. James's, Garlickhithe. A Coat of Arms granted to the family is Erminois with three black triangular harrows conjoined in the fess point and interlaced by a black annulet. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Norman de Redeman, which was dated 1188, in the "Pipe Rolls of Lancaster", during the reign of King Henry 11, known as "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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