Crunden

This interesting surname is of Anglo-Saxon origin, and is a locational name from Crandon in Sussex. The placename was recorded as "Grenedone" in the Domesday Book of 1086, and as "Crendon" in the 1219 Book of Fees. The derivation of the name is from the Olde English pre 7th Century "grene", green, or "cran", crane, with "dun", hill; hence, "green hill" or "cranes hill". During the Middle Ages, when migration for the purpose of job-seeking was becoming more common, people often took their former village name as a means of identification, thus resulting in a wide dispersal of the name. In the modern idiom the surname can be found as Crunden, Crandon, Crowndon and Crundon. Recordings of the surname from English Church Registers include: the marriage of Phillipp Crunden and Elizabeth Russell at Burwash, Sussex, on June 11th 1566; the marriage of John Crandon and Jone Hodges on November 22nd 1571, at Cannington, Somerset; and the marriage of John Crunden and Susan Gyles on June 1st 1592, at Eastbourne, Sussex. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Zacharye Crowdon, which was dated February 28th 1539, christened at Christ Church, Greyfriars, Newgate, London, during the reign of King Henry V111, known as "Good King Hal", 1509 - 1547. 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.