TAPP

The surname Tapp is an English family name that can be traced back to the Anglo Saxon era of the British Isles. It is rooted in the Old English words which referred to a tap or spigot and, as historical records show, was originally an occupational designation for a person who worked with such implements.

Earliest documentary evidence of the surname appears in the Pipe Rolls of Dorset dated 1194, where a John Tappe is mentioned. Subsequent references include a Roger Tappe recorded in the 1327 Subsidy Rolls of Worcestershire and a John Tapp who flourished in 1596 and was the author of “The Arte of Navigation.” These entries confirm that the name was in use as a surname in medieval England for several centuries.

The etymology of Tapp may also derive from the Old English personal name Taeppa, the meaning of which is obscure. Some linguists speculate that it could have been a nickname for a tall, thin individual, based on the Old English term that originally meant a peg and later a tap. The personal name Taeppa is preserved in several placenames such as Taplow, Taplow from taeppa plus hawe (barrow), and in Tapners, Tappington and Tapton, which incorporate the elements haes (wood) and tun (village or settlement) respectively.

In heraldic tradition, a coat of arms has been granted to the Tapp family of Dorset. It consists of a gold shield bearing a silver lion passant on a fess between three blue crosslets cross fitchee, with the crest depicted as a black greyhound couchant, linseed and collarled in gold. This heraldic record provides further evidence of the family’s status and lineage in Dorset during the reign of Richard the Lionheart.

Contemporary research indicates that the surname is still predominantly found in England, with a concentration in counties such as Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire, Northamptonshire and Dorset. Roughly five thousand individuals in the United Kingdom are recorded to carry the surname, according to recent census data. Outside the UK, smaller numbers are found in the United States, Canada, Australia and parts of Europe.

Various spelling variants of the name have appeared over the centuries, including Tapper and Tap; these are evident in earlier historical documents. While some suggestions link Tapp to Germanic surnames such as Taft or Teufel, these associations are primarily nominal and lack solid documentary confirmation of a shared origin.

In the United States the surname is most frequently encountered in the South Eastern states, for instance in Georgia, Virginia and North Carolina, where it appears in the top two thousand most common surname lists. In England, Tapp ranks at approximately the thousand eighteenth most popular surname, reflecting its lower frequency compared with more common English family names.

Typical given names associated with the Tapp surname

Male

• Andrew
• Christopher
• David
• James
• Jason
• John
• Matthew
• Michael
• Nicholas
• Paul
• Richard

Female

• Angela
• Catherine
• Elizabeth
• Emma
• Isabel
• Karen
• Laura
• Margaret
• Mary
• Nicola
• Rebecca
• Rosalind
• Sarah
• Susan

Similar and related surnames

Related and similar names are generated algorithmically based on the spelling, and may not necessarily share an etymology.

How to communicate the surname Tapp in...

Braille

⠞⠁⠏⠏

Morse

-.-.--..--.

Semaphore

Did you know?

According to a survey carried out by Democracy Club, politicians and candidates with the surname Tapp are most likely to say that their favourite biscuit is a Custard Cream.

Surname type: Location or geographical feature

Origin: English

Region of origin: British Isles

Country of origin: England

Religion of origin: Christian

Language of origin: English

Famous people named Tapp

• Alex Tapp - Football player
• Alistair Tapp - Cricketer
• Finn Tapp - Football player

Names and descriptions courtesy of Wikipedia, and may contain errors. This is not intended to be an exhaustive list of every famous person with this name.

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