Endicott

This surname is of pre 7th century Olde English and Anglo-Saxon origins. Recorded in several spellings including End, Ende, Endecott, Endicott and Endacott, the name is topographical for one resident at the end of a settlement, or living at the last "cottage" in the street. There is also a suggestion that a village called Endacott or similar may have once existed in Devonshire. The derivation is from the German "ende", a word introduced into England after the 5th century a.d. Locational or topographical surnames were amongst the first to be introduced. It being, and it remains, that one of the easiest forms of identification is to call a person by the name of the place where he or she lives. This could be a natural object such as a cliffe or a hill, or something man made such as a cottage or a street. In this case the early recorded forms of the name include Nicholas Attehende in the Subsidy Rolls of the county of Staffordshire for the year1343; Robert de Ynde of Gloucestershire, in 1369, and John Enedcott of Devon in 1569. Examples of recordings from church registers include on May 16th 1585, Thomas Ind, who was christened at St. Botolph's, Bishopsgate, whilst Samuell Inde and Frances Royston were married at St. Gregory by St. Pauls in 1606. The first recorded spelling of the family name in any form is believed to be that of John Atte-end, the rector of Burnham in Norfolk, in the year 1320. This was during the reign of King Edward 11, known as Edward of Caernafon, as he was born there. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.