Coat of Arms & Family Crests Store
Mayman Coat of Arms / Mayman Family CrestThis surname MAYMAN was a nickname 'the maden' a female servant or attendant. The name is also spelt MAYMANN, MAYMON, MAYMOND, MAIDMENT and MAYMUND. The small villages of Europe, or royal and noble households, even large religious dwellings and monasteries gave rise to many family names which reflected the occupation or profession of the original bearer of the name. Early records of the name mention Richard Maydenemon, 1275, County Surrey. William Maideman was documented in 1327 Essex, and William Maideman appears in the year 1332. Alicia Martynmayden, listed in the Yorkshire Poll Tax of 1379. Johanna Mayden, 1379 ibid. Thomas Hyett married Jane Maiden at St. George's Chapel, Mayfair, London in 1730. George Madin and Ann Harris were married at St. Mary, Aldermary, London in 1753. An eminent member of the name was Joseph Henry Maiden (1859-1925) the British born, Australian botanist. He was born in London, but emigrated to New South Wales in 1880, and became director of Sydney Botanic Garden and the government botanist. He published several works on Australian plants, notably 'The Forest Flora of New South Wales'. During the Middle Ages, when people were unable to read or write, signs were needed for all visual identification. For several centuries city streets in Britain were filled with signs of all kinds, public houses, tradesmen and even private householders found them necessary. This was an age when there were no numbered houses, and an address was a descriptive phrase that made use of a convenient landmark. At this time, coats of arms came into being, for the practical reason that men went into battle heavily armed and were difficult to recognise. It became the custom for them to adorn their helmets with distinctive crests, and to paint their shields with animals and the like. Coats of arms accompanied the development of surnames, becoming hereditary in the same way. Over the centuries, most people in Europe have accepted their surname as a fact of life, as irrevocable as an act of God. However much the individual may have liked or disliked the surname, they were stuck with it, and people rarely changed them by personal choice. A more common form of variation was in fact involuntary, when an official change was made, in other words, a clerical error. |
