Bridden

This interesting name is of Anglo-Saxon origin and is a variant spelling of either the name Bredon, from a place so called in Worcestershire, or Breedon-on-the-Hill, from a place in Leicestershire. The first recording of the place in Worcestershire appears as 'Breodun in Huic' in the Anglo-Saxon Charters of 772 and 'Breodun' in the Domesday Book of 1086, while the place in Leicestershire appears as 'Briudun' in Bede's Ecclesiastical History of 730. The derivation of both these placenames is from a British (pre Roman) hill name identical to the Welsh 'bre', meaning hill, with the Old English pre 7th Century 'dun', also meaning hill. The 'in Huic' (Breodun in Huic) stands for in the territory of the 'Hwicce', a large tribe that settled in Gloucestershire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire. In London, the marriage of William Bridden and Mary Hale was recorded on December 19th 1680. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Luce Bridon (marriage to Edmund Murton), which was dated October 10th 1594, St. Mary Magdalene, Old Fish Street, London, during the reign of Queen Elizabeth 1, 'Good Queen Bess', 1558-1603. 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.