Goulbourne - Name

This name is of English locational origin from either of two places called Golborne, one in Cheshire and the other in Lancashire. The name derives from the Olde English pre 7th Century 'golde' meaning "marigold" (from "gold"), plus "burna (burne)", a brook or stream, hence, "stream where marsh marigold grew". The surname is first recorded in the early half of the 14th Century, (see below). The name is particularly well recorded in church registers of Cheshire and Lancashire under the variant spellings Gol(d)bourn, Go(u)lborn(e), and Goulbo(u)rne. On July 19th 1567 Emme Golborne and Richard Holland were married in Chester, and on August 26th 1671 Katherine Goulbourne married a Richard Price there. George Goulbourne, an infant, was christened in Warrington, Lancashire, on July 10th 1614. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Richard de (of) Goldburn, which was dated 1332, in the "Subsidy Rolls of Lancashire", during the reign of King Edward 111, known as "The Father of the Navy", 1327 - 1377. 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.