This interesting and unusual name is of Anglo-Saxon origin, and has a number of possible meanings. Firstly, it may be a topographical name for someone who lived in a clearing in woodland, derived from the Old English pre 7th Century "stybbing", a derivative of "stubb", tree stump, in Middle English "stebbing, stubbing", area of cleared woodland. In some cases, the surname may be locational, from some minor place named with this element. Finally, the surname may derive from an Old English nickname from "stybbing", to mean "the stocky, stumpy one". The surname development includes Richard Stubin (1279, Oxfordshire), and Richard del Stubbyng (1297, Cornwall), and the modern surname can be found as Stubbing, Stubbings, Stebbing, Stebbings. The marriage of John Stubbings and Dorothea Cole was recorded on January 1st 1683 at St. Martin Outwich, London. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of William Stubbing, which was dated 1191, in the Norfolk Pipe Rolls, during the reign of King Richard 1, known as "The Lionheart", 1189 - 1199. 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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