Recorded in many forms including Tims, Timbs, Timms, Timmes, Timson, Tyms, and Tymms, this unusual and interesting patronymic surname is of Olde English origins. It derives from the pre 7th Century personal name "Tima", a development of the early Germanic name "Timmo", and itself a short form of the given name "Dietmar". This was composed of the elements "theudo", meaning "people or race", plus "meri or mari", meaning famous. These early Anglo-Saxon and Norse baptismal names were usually compounds whose elements were often associated with the gods of Fire, Water and War, or composed of disparate elements. It is unlikely that the now familiar personal name "Timothy" generated the modern day surname, although this is possible in some cases. The name dates back to the early 14th Century (see below), and surviving recordings from the registers of the dioces of Greater London include: Richard Tyms at New Colleg, Oxford, in 1565, the christening of James Timms, the son of John and Priscilla Timms, on April 4th 1699, at St. Sepulchre's, and the marriage of Edward Timbs and Henrietta Maria Smith at St,. Antholins church in the city of London on July 1st 1752. The first known recording of the family name may be that of William Tymmes. This was dated 1332, in the "Subsidy Rolls" of the county of Warwickshire, during the reign of King Edward 111rd of England, 1327 - 1377. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.

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