Yearby

Our last name is recored in several spellings, including Yearby, Yerby, Erby and possibly others.  It is an English surname which is rooted in village of Yearby, in the county of North Yorkshire, near the town of Guisborough.  The origin is pre-7th century Danish Viking, deriving from the words "effn byr" meaning upper farm.  As a village, the first recording isin the year 1275 as Uverby and leater in 1378 as Overby.  The modern spelling originates out of the 16th century.  Locational names were usually given when a former inhabitant moved to another are, and this also accounted for the different spellings.  In this case, the name development includes Richard Yearby who m arried Mary Ann Orton at St. Martins, Birmingham in 1759.  The first recorded name is shown to be that of Mary Yerbie.  This was dated 1566whenshe was christened at St. Lukes Church, during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I.  She was generally known as "Good Queen Bess" and reigned from 1558 to 1603.  Surnames became necessary when goverments introduced personal taxation.  In England, this was sometimes known as the Poll Tax.  Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.