This interesting name has two possible origins. The first and most likely being an occupational name for a winder of wool, deriving from the Old English pre 7th Century "windan" - "to wind". The verb "winden" was used in the Middle Ages with reference to various weaving and plaiting processes, so in some cases the name may have been given to a maker of baskets etc.. The surname from this source is first recorded in the latter half of the 13th Century, (see below). A second distinct possibility is that the name is locational from a place called Winder in Cumbria, Westmoreland and Lancashire, so named from the Old English pre 7th Century "vindr", wind plus "erg", a hut. Hence, "Shelter against the wind". One, Thomas Winder is recorded in the Lancashire Wills records, dated 1616. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Richard le Winder, which was dated 1275, The Hundred Rolls of Lincolnshire, during the reign of King Edward 1, "The Hammer of the Scots", 1272 - 1307. 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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