Huntingdon

This long-established and distinguished name is of Anglo-Saxon origin, and is a locational surname deriving from any one of the places called Huntington in Cheshire, Herefordshire, Shropshire, Staffordshire and Yorkshire, or from the county town of Huntingdon. The places in Cheshire, Staffordshire and Yorkshire, recorded as Hunditone" (Domesday Book, 1086); "Huntendon" (Fees Rolls, 1198); and "Huntindune" (Domesday), respectively, all share the same meaning and derivation, which is "the hill of the huntsmen", from the genitive plural form of the Olde English pre 7th Century "hunta", hunter, with "dun", hill. The places called Huntington in Herefordshire and Shropshire, recorded in Domesday as "Huntenetune, Hantinetune" and "Hantenetune", are named with the Olde English "hunt(en)a", as before, and "tun", enclosure, settlement; hence, "the settlement of the huntsmen". Huntingdon is "Huntedun" in Domesday, and means "the huntsman's hill", or "Hunta's hill", from the Olde English personal name. Early recordings of the surname include: Humphrey de Huntendun (1202, Bedfordshire); William de Huntinton (1280, Worcestershire); and Thomas de Huntyngton (1379, Yorkshire). The marriage of Thomas Huntington and Ellen Bullen was recorded at St. Botolph's, Bishopsgate, London, on August 20th 1564. Samuel Huntington (1731 - 1796), one of the signatories of the American Declaration of Independence, was descended from Simon Huntington, who emigrated to Boston with his family in 1633. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Eustace de Huntendone, which was dated 1086, in the "Register of Old English Bynames", during the reign of King William 1, known as "The Conqueror", 1066 - 1087. 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.