Beakes - Name

This is a patronymic i.e. "the son of Beake" a nickname deriving from the Medieval English "beke" meaning "the beak of a bird" and given to one with a prominent or hooked nose. The surname from this source is first recorded in the latter half of the 13th Century. In 1589, one Simon Beake of Kent is recorded in "The Oxford University Register". The English "s" added to a name denotes the patronymic and is a reduced form of "son". The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Emma la Beke. which was dated 1273 in the Hundred Rolls of Huntingdonshire. during the reign of King Edward 1, known as 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.