Recorded as Side, Sides, Syde, Sydes, Syder, and probably others, is English. It can be either locational or topographical. As a locational surname it originates from a village in the county of Gloucestershire called 'Syde'. This is recorded in the famous Domesday Book of 1086 as 'Side', and is named from the pre 7th century word 'sid', meaning a slope. As a topographical name it denotes a dweller on a ridge or slope. The plural forms of the surname as Sides and Sydes represent the genitive forms, for example 'of Syde', or 'of the slope', whilst as Syder or Sider, it means a person of Syde. The early surname development includes Henry Beside in Gloucester in the year 1290, Michael Aside in the Subsidy Rolls of Wiltshire in 1327 and Adam del Syde of Gloucestershire in 1332, whilst on August 7th 1655, Susan Side married John Powell at the church of St. Benet, Paul's Wharf, in the city of London. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Herbert de Side. This was dated 1221, in the Assize Rolls of Gloucestershire, during the reign of King Henry 111, known as 'The Frenchman', 1216 -1272. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was sometimes known as the 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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