This interesting surname is of early medieval English origin, and is a variant of the medieval male given name "Tebaud, Tibalt", itself coming from the Old French "Teobaud, Tibaut", ultimately from the Old German "Theudobald", a compound of the elements "theuda", people, and "bald", bold. This name, introduced into England by the Normans after the Conquest of 1066, reinforced the pre-existing cognate Olde English "Theodbald", and is found as "Teobald, Tedbaldus, Tetbald" and "Tebaldus" in the Domesday Book of 1086. One Tebbaldus de Valeines, noted in the 1206 Curia Regis Rolls of Cambridgeshire, appears as Tybaud de Valeines in the Red Book of the Exchequer, dated 1212. Early examples of the surname include: Hugo Tebaud (Lincolnshire, 1202); Geoffrey Tebbault (Northamptonshire, circa 1350); and William Tebott, entered in the 1405 Register of the Freemen of the City of York. Surnames derived from given names are the oldest and most pervasive surname type, and in vernacular naming traditions (as distinct from religious), names were originally composed of vocabulary elements of the local language, and no doubt bestowed for their auspicious connotations. In the modern idiom the surname is variously spelt: Tebbet(t), Tebbit(t), Tebboth and Tebbut(t). On September 24th 1615, Richard, son of William Tebbutt, was christened at Brixworth, Northamptonshire. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Thomas Teobald, which was dated 1199, in the "Pipe Rolls of Gloucestershire", during the reign of King Richard 1, known as "Richard 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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