Langdon

This interesting name is one of the oldest recorded, and is of Anglo-Saxon origin, as a locational or in some cases a topographical surname. As a locational name, Langdon derives from any of the places so called in Devonshire, Dorset, Essex, Kent and Warwickshire. The place in Kent, now known as East and West Langdon, is the earliest recorded, as "Langandune" in the Saxon Charters of 861, while the place in Essex, now "Langdon Hills", appears in the Domesday Book of 1086 as "Langenduna", as does the place in Warwickshire, as "Langedone". The placename means "the long hill", derived from the Old English pre 7th Century "lang, long", long, with "dun", hill, down, mountain. As a topographical name Langdon denoted residence by or on such a long hill. The marriage of William Langdon and Jane Lillywhite was recorded at St. James's, Clerkenwell, London, on May 30th 1669. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Aelfward aet Langadune, which was dated circa 1050, Ancient Charters of Worcestershire, during the reign of King Edward, "The Confessor", 1042 - 1066. 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.