This interesting and unusual surname has two possible derivations. Firstly, it may be of Anglo-Saxon locational origin, from a place in Oxfordshire, which was recorded in the Wills Records of 1004 as "Tiwan" and as "Tewe, Teowe" in the Domesday Book of 1086. The derivation for this placename is the Olde English pre 7th Century element "tiewe", a row or ridge. During the Middle Ages, when migration for the purpose of job-seeking was becoming more common, people often took their former village name as a means of identification, resulting in a wide dispersal of the name. However, the surname may also be of Old Welsh origin, as a nickname for a fat or plump man, from the Welsh "tew", plump. The surname is first recorded from this source in the Anglesey Subsidy Rolls of 1292, when one Iuan Teewe is mentioned. Other recordings of the surname include the christening of Ellen Tewe on May 28th 1540, at St. Margaret's, Westminster, London; the marriage of Stephen Tue and Helyn Duffielde on November 8th 1584, at St. Mary Somerset, London; and the christening of Ann, daughter of William Tue, on September 1st 1644, at St. Peter's Church, Leeds, Yorkshire. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Hugo de Tiw, which was dated 1130, in the "Pipe Rolls of Oxfordshire", during the reign of King Henry 1, known as "The Lion of Justice", 1100 - 1135. 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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