Recorded in a wide range of spellings including Tabor, Tabour, Tambur, Tabournier (French), whilst the English versions include Taberner, Tabernor, Tabberner, Tabbernor, Tabiner, Tabner and others. It is a medieval surname of pre 9th century French origins, and one that was introduced into England by the Norman-French invaders at or immediatley after the famous Conquest of 1066. It is job descriptive for a military drummer, one who played the Tabour, the modern Tamborine. The instrument itself is of Ancient Persian origin dating back to 2500 BC., or even earlier and was used in almost every army band upto the present time. The name development in England has included examples of recordings such as Petur Taberner of Devonshire in 1264, Eustace Tabur of Oxford in the Hundred Rolls of 1273, and Wilhelmus Taburner in the Yorkshire Poll Tax registers of 1379. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Robert le Taburner. This was dated 1201, in the Pipe Rolls of the county of Yorkshire, during the reign of King John. He was known by the nickanme of "Lackland" and reigned from 1199 to 1216. 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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