Buzza - Name

This interesting and unusual surname found widespread in Cornwall has three possible origins. Firstly it may be a Cornish variant of the French Huguenot name "Bucer", from the Old French word "bucher", meaning to chop, cut, probably an occupational name for a butcher or forester. French Huguenot names were introduced to England by Flemish and French Huguenots fleeing religious persecution in the late 16th and 17th Century. Secondly the name may be a contracted form of the Old French "harquebuse", a long barrelled portable gun dating from the 15th Century, fired by a wheel-lock or match-lock from the Middle Dutch word "hakebusse", a hook gun. Finally it may perhaps have been an Italian occupational name for a ship-builder, from a shortened form of "Buzzacarina", from "carina", the Italian word for a ship. There were a lot of seafaring connections between Cornwall and Italy. The earliest record of the name in Cornish church registers is the christening of Richardus, son of George Buzza on January 25th 1673 at Redrult. Joseph Buzza married Rachell Batchelor at St. James, Dukes Place, London on June 15th 1689. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Martin Bucer, which was dated died in 1551, and recorded in "The Huguenots" by Samuel Similes, during the reign of King Edward V1, "The boy King", 1547 - 1553. 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.