This ancient English surname of YAPP was a nickname for a clever or cunning person, derived from the Old Norman personal name YAP, and rendered in Old English as GEAP. The name is also spelt YAP and YAPE. The earliest of the name on record appears to be Richard YAP, who was recorded in Northumberland in the year 1200, and Edwin YAPE of Yorkshire, was listed in the Yorkshire Poll Tax of 1379. Hereditary surnames were originally imported from France into England during the Norman Conquest of 1066. In the two centuries or so after the Conquest surnames were acquired by most families of major landholders, and many landed families of lesser importance. There appears to have been a constant trickle of migration into Britain between about the years 1200 and 150O, mostly from France and the Low Countries, with a small number of migrants from Scandinavia, Germany, Italy and the Iberian peninsular, and occasional individuals from further afield. During this period groups of aliens settled in this country as for example, the Germans who from the late 15th century onwards settled in Cumbria to work the metal mines. Immigration during this time had only a small effect on the body of surnames used in Britain. In many cases, the surnames of immigrants were thoroughly Anglicised. The late sixteenth century saw the arrival, mostly in London and the south-coast ports of large numbers of people fleeing from the war regions of France. Later instances of the name include Christopher Baylie and Elizabeth YAPP, who were married in London in 1620. (No church recorded). Richard YAPP (a haberdasher) was baptised at St. Peter, Cornhill, London in the year 1655, and Francis YAPP and Lydia Shorland were married at St. George's, Hanover Square, London in the year 1792. In the Middle Ages heraldry came into use as a practical matter. It originated in the devices used to distinguish the armoured warriors in tournament and war, and was also placed on seals as marks of identity. As far as records show, true heraldry began in the middle of the 12th century, and appeared almost simultaneously in several countries of Western Europe. The lion depicted in the arms is the noblest of all wild beasts which is made to be the emblem of strength and valour, and is on that account the most frequently borne in Coat-Armour. |
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