This picturesque and unusual name is of Cornish origin and is topographical for someone who lived in or near a hamlet of stone. The derivation is from the Welsh and Cornish 'tre', homestead or village, with 'maen', stone, thus a hamlet of stone. The variants in the modern idiom include Trinman, Trenaman and Teniman, the last example being fairly prolific in both Devon and Cornwall. Two examples of namebearers are as follows: Thomas Trineman the infant son of Samuel and Mary Trineman was christened on October 13th 1759 at Redruth, Cornwall, and Elizabeth Priscilla Trineman was christened on May 1st 1864 at St. Matthew's Bethnal Green, London. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of William Trenaman (marriage to Tamson Batten), which was dated 12th November 1559, at Pillaton, Cornwall, during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, 'Good Queen Bess', 1558 - 1603. 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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