Verrier - Name

Recorded in many forms including Verrier (French and English), Verriour, Veyrier, and Leverrier (French), Verilli, Verillo and Vetraio (Italian), this is an occupational surname. It originally denoted a maker of glass objects, and although it is generally accepted that the modern surname does derive the pre 9th century Olde French word 'verrieur', the ultimate origin is definately the Roman (Latin) word 'vitrum' meaning glass. The earliest known and surviving records showing the surname development are in England. Here the use of the word and hence the later surname development, dates from the time of the Norman-French conquest of 1066. Although hereditary surnames as we know them did not come into popular use for nearly two centuries, early examples of knights with the suffix include Fulko le Verrier in the Knight Templars lists for the county of Wiltshire in 1185, and Walter le Verrour appears in the register of the Freemen of the city of York in 1313. Later examples include he marriage between William Willis and Ann Verrier at St. Michael's Cornhill, in the city of London, in 1750, and that of Bernardo Verillo, the son of Giuseppe Verillo, who was christened at Napoli, in Italy, in 1866. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Roger Verer, which was dated circa 1100, Norfolk and East Anglian County Records, during the reign of King Henry I, 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.