The English surname Staples is derived from the Middle English term stapel meaning “a post.” It is a topographic name for someone who lived near a boundary post. The name may also be an habitational name from some place named with this word,for example Staple in Kent or Staple Fitzpaine in Somerset. The name dates to the 13th Century with the earliest record Robert de Stapel in "The Hundred Rolls of Kent" in 1273. The earliest record of the name in the New World is in 1622 when Richard Staples settled in Virginia. Today there are approximately 18,000 bearers of the name Staples living in the United States.