This picturesque and interesting name is a dialectal variant of the surname Yeoman, itself of Olde English pre 7th Century "geong" meaning "young", plus "mann" a mann, (medieval English "yeman" or "yoman", a yeoman). Originally this was a status name for an attendant in a noble household, ranking between a sergeant and a groom, or between a squire and a page. Later in the medieval English period it came to be used of a freeholder as distinct from a tenant. The surname is first recorded in the early half of the 14th Century (see below). One Johannes Yomanne appears in the 1379 Poll Tax Returns of Yorkshire and a Thomas le Yomon in the 1381 Subsidy Rolls of Staffordshire. Among the recordings in London are the marriages of Martha Youngman and Isaac Russell on March 15th 1584 at St. Marylebone, Francis Youngman and Susan Platt on January 13th 1633 at St. Giles, Cripplegate, and Richard Youngman and Jone Randan, on November 21st 1658 at St. Katherine-by-the-Tower. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of John Yeoman, which was dated 1332, in the "Subsidy Rolls of Lancashire", during the reign of King Edward 111, known as "The Father of the Navy", 1327 - 1377. 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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