Last name: Steiner
This interesting name of English origin is an occupational name for a dyer, particularly of grass rather than fabrics and deriving from the Middle English Steyn(en) and latin "distingere" meaning to dye. In 1502 the Guild of Staines amalgamated with the London Guild of Painters, "paid to Thomas Staynour of Windsor for painting the fenestral like a glass window, 4d", Salzaman's "Building in England down to 1540". In the modern idiom, the variants include Steiner, Steinor and Steynor. Two early records of christenings in London are of one An Stainer on the 30th September 1686 at St. Martin-in-the-Fields and one Sarah Stainer on 9th June 1663 at St. Giles, Cripplegate. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of John Stynour, which was dated 1273, in the Kirby Records of Somerset, during the reign of King Edward 1, known as the Hammer of the Scots, 1272 - 1307. 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.
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