Findon

This interesting and unusual name is of Anglo-Saxon origin, and is a locational surname deriving from the place called 'Findon' in Sussex, or from the lands of 'Findon' in the parish of Banchory-Devenick, in Deeside, Scotland. The place in Sussex is recorded as 'Fintona' in 1073, as 'Findune' in the Domesday Book of 1086, and as 'Findon' in the 1166 Sussex Pipe Rolls. The placename means 'the hill with a heap of wood', derived from the Old English pre 7th Century 'fin', heap (of wood) and 'dun', hill, down, mountain. The record of the marriage of John Findon and Johane Baker at Rogate in Sussex on October 29th 1587 is an early one of this source. The modern surname can be found as Findon and Finden, and one Janne Fyndon is recorded in London in 1563. The christening of William, son of Henry and Ann Finden, is recorded on April 30th 1806 at Alton in Hampshire. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Philip de Fyndon, which was dated 1281, in the Register of the Abbey of Aberbrothoc, during the reign of King Alexander 111, 'King of Scotland', 1249-1286. 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.