Aldwinckle

This unusual name is of Anglo-Saxon origin and is a locational surname from the place called "Aldwinkle" in Northamptonshire. The placename is recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as "Eldewincle" and "Aldevincle" and means "Ealda's nook". The derivation is from the Olde English pre 7th Century personal name "Ealda" and "Wincel", meaning a nook or corner. The place is by a nook in a chain of hills near Thrapston. Locational surnames were usually given to the Lord of the Manor and especially to those former inhabitants who left their original homes to live or work in another area. The marriage between William Aldwinckle and Mary King was recorded at St. Dionis, Backchurch, London in 1648. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Henry de Andewinkle, which was dated 1272, The Northamptonshire Hundred Rolls, during the reign of King Edward I, 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.