Lewendon

Recorded in various forms including Lewenden, Lewendon, Lewenton, Lewington, Lewinton, and possibly others, this is an English locational surname. Research suggest that it originates either from a now 'lost' medieval village, or which the only reminder in the 20th century is the surname itself in its varied spellings, or possibly from a place in the county of Suffolk called Levington. If the latter, this place is first recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as "Leuetuna" which influenced the later spelling of the surname as Lewington or Lewendon. The placename means "Leofa's homestead", derived from the Olde English pre 7th Century personal name Leofa meaning "dear beloved", with "tun", a settlement, homestead or village. Locational surnames are by their nature 'from' names. That is to say names given to peiople after they left their original homesteads to settle elsewhere. Spelling over the centuries being at best indifferent, and local dialects very thick, soon lead to the development of 'sounds like' spellings. Early examples of the surname recordings include that of John Hill and Sarah Lewington, who were married in Canterbury, Kent, in 1662, and Samuel Lewendon and Jemima Paice who were married at St. George's chapel, Hanover Square, Westminster in 1765. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was sometimes known as the Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.