This interesting and unusual name, with variant spellings Stebbings, Stubbin(g)s, Stebbens and Stebbins, may derive from two possible sources. Firstly, the name may perhaps be of English locational origin from "Stebbing", a place in Essex, which was recorded as "Stabinga" and "Stibinga" in the Domesday Book of 1086, which derived from the Old English personal name "Stybba", which appeared in 960, in the Cartularium Saxonicum, plus the ending "-ing", which means "people of", hence "Stybba's people". The place may also have received it's name from the Old English "stybbing", meaning "clearing", which is identical to the medieval English "stubbing". Finally the name may be topographical, for one who lived in a clearing in a wood, from the same elements as above. The surname, found widespread in East Anglia, first appears in records in the late 13th Century (see below). Thomas Stebin appeared in the Hundred Rolls of Cambridgeshire in 1273. Notable namebearers include one Henry Stebbing (1687-1763) educated at Cambridge, 1712, who became chaplain to KingGeorge 11 in 1732. Later he was appointed chancellor of Sarum and rector of Redenhall; Henry Stebbing (1799-1883), who was a divine and author who became a chaplain to Hospital in 1834. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Richard de Stebing, which was dated 1273, in the Hundred Rolls of Essex, during the reign of King Edward 1, known as "The Hammer of The Scots", 1272 - 1307. 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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