Catton

This interesting surname is of Anglo-Saxon origin, and is a locational name from a number of places thus called, Catton in Derbyshire, Norfolk, East Riding of Yorkshire and North Riding of Yorkshire, recorded respectively in the Domesday Book of 1086 as "Chetun, Catetuna, Cattune" and "Catune", derives from the Olde English pre 7th Century personal name "Catta" (or Old Norse "Kati"), and "tun", enclosure, settlement; hence, "Catta's or Kati's settlement". Catton in Northumberland, recorded as "Cattenden" in the 1229 Black Book of Hexham, is from the Olde English "catt", wild cat, and "denu", valley. Finally, the surname may be from Caton in Devonshire, recorded as "Cadetone" in the 1339 Subsidy Rolls, or from Caton in Lancashire, recorded as "Catun" in the Domesday Book, which translates as "Cada's settlement", and "Kati's settlement", respectively. Locational names were originally given as a means of identification to those who left their village or place of origin to settle elsewhere. In the modern idiom the surname can be found as Catton and Caton. On March 2nd 1569, Agnes Catton married Thomas Stevens at St. James' Clerkenwell, London, and the marriage of Thomas Catton and Margaret Kedwor took place at St. Dunstan's, Stepney, London, on December 6th 1585. A Coat of Arms granted to the family depicts a gold bend between three silver owls membered gold on a black shield, the Crest being a silver horned owl. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Robert de Catton, which was dated 1273, in the "Hundred Rolls of Norfolk", during the reign of King Edward 1, known as "The Hammer of the Scots", 1272 - 1307. 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.