The English surname of ALLEMAND was an ethnic name for someone from Germany, originally derived from the Anglo-Norman French word ALEMAN, or ALEMAYE (the German form). The name was rendered in medieval documents in the Latin form ALEMANNUS. It was a name applied to a Germanic tribe meaning 'all the men'. In some cases the name may have been in reference to the Norman region of Allemagne, to the south of Caen, which was probably so named from Germanic settlers there. The name has numerous variant spellings which include ALLMAN, ALIMAN, LA MAGNA, ALEMANY, LA MANNA and ALIMANESCO, to name but a few. Early records of the name include AELMOND (without surname) who was listed in the Domesday Book of 1086 and Willelmus Alman of Yorkshire, was listed in the Yorkshire Poll Tax of 1379, and Hanekin Almand and John de Almann were varlets of the Countess of Surrey in the year 1358. Libertus Allman appears as the rector of North Repps, County Norfolk in 1583.Thomas Minn married Susan Almond in London in the year 1622. Since the dawn of civilisation the need to communicate has been a prime drive of all higher mankind. The more organised the social structure became, the more urgent the need to name places, objects and situations essential to the survival and existence of the social unit. From this common stem arose the requirements to identify families, tribes and individual members evolving into a pattern in evidence today. In the formation of this history, common usage of customs, trades, locations, patronymic and generic terms were often adopted as surnames. The demands of bureaucracy formally introduced by feudal lords in the 11th century, to define the boundaries and families within their fiefdoms, crystallized the need for personal identification and accountability, and surnames became in general use from this time onwards. 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.