Smout - Name

This name recorded in London Church Registers from the mid 16th Century with Smoth, Smuth, Smoote and Smooth, is a Dutch or Low German form of the name Smith which is occupational for a worker in steel. Throughout Medieval Europe Smiths were skilled not only in the making of horseshoes, but also in forging swords and armour. The sudden occurence of the name in 16th Century registers suggests that it may have been introduced by Flemish Huguenot refugees who fled their own country,in their thousands, to escape religious persecutions in the 16th and 17th Centuries. On February 7th 1642 Ewin Smout and Grissilla Bayly were married in St. Martin in the Fields, Westminster and on September 14th 1846 Louisa Frances Smout married an Adrien Joseph Geerts in St. Pancras, Old Church, London. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Agnis Smoth married Olliuer Otringham, which was dated July 30th 1559 in St. Margaret Moses, London, during the reign of Queen Elizabeth 1, known as Good Queen Bess, 1558 - 1603. 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.