The surname of BABCOCK was a locational name, from some small spot in County Devon, from whence the family have sprung. The name is also spelt BABB, BABBITT, BABOT and BABBS. Habitation names were originally acquired by the original bearer of the name, who, having lived by, at or near a place, would then take that name as a form of identification for himself and his family. When people lived close to the soil as they did in the Middle Ages, they were acutely conscious of every local variation in landscape and countryside. Every field or plot of land was identified in normal conversation by a descriptive term. If a man lived on or near a hill or mountain, or by a river or stream, forests and trees, he might receive the word as a family name. Almost every town, city or village early times, has served to name many families. Early records of the name mention Edmond BABCOCK, who was buried at St. Mary, Aldermary, London in 1754, and Benjamin BABOCKE married Elizabeth Plumleigh Teape at St. George's, Hanover Square, London in 1792. Notable members of the name include Harold Delos BABCOCK (1882-1968) the American physicist, born in Edgerton, Wisconsin. He was on the staff of the Mount Wilson observatory (1909) when he measured the magnetic field of the star 78 Virginis, which provided a link between the electromagnetic and the relativity theories. Stephen Moulton BABCOCK (1843-1931) was the American agricultural chemist and 'the father of scientific dairying'. He was born near Bridgewater, New York, and studied at Tuft's College, Cornell and Gottingen. From 1907 he studied the effect of selective diets on cattle. Before the 1066 Conquest names were rare in England, the few examples found were mainly adopted by those of the clergy or one who had taken holy orders. In 1086 the conquering Duke William of Normandy commanded the Domesday Book. He wanted to know what he had and who held it, and the Book describes Old English society under its new management in minute detail. It was then that surnames began to be taken for the purposes of tax-assessment. The nobles and the upper classes were first to realise the prestige of a second name, but it was not until the 15th century that most people had acquired a second name. |
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