This interesting surname with variant spellings Vidler, Vitler, etc. is a dialectal variant of the occupational name Fiedler given to a professional player on the fiddle, or a nickname for a skilled amateur, from the Germanic "Fiedler" meaning "Fiddler". It may also be a nickname from the Anglo Norman French phrase "vis de leu" meaning "Wolf-face", from the French "vis" "face", Latin "visus" meaning "appearance plus "de" "from" plus the French "leu", Latin "lupus" "wolf". The surname dates back to the late 11th Century, (see below). Further recordings include one Walchelinus Videlu (1198), witness, "The Feet of Fines of Suffolk", and John le Fithelare (1275) "The Subsidy Rolls of Worcestershire". Church recordings include one Stephen Vidler who married Jone Slaughter on May 18th 1606, at St. Stephens, Coleman Street, London, and William Vitler married Mary Gilliam on April 6th 1809, at St. Martin in the Fields, Westminster. Hannah Vitler married George Thomas Thompson on April 5th 1863 at St. Dunstan's, Stepney, London. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Hunfridus Uis de Leuu, which was dated 1086 - The Domesday Book, during the reign of King William 1, "The Conqueror", 1066 - 1087. 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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