Minchinden

Recorded in several spellings including Minchinden, Minchindon, Minchinton, Minchenton, Menchenton, and possibly others, this is an English locational surname. It originates from the Gloucestershire village of Minchinhampton, first recorded in the famous Domesday Book of 1086 as Hantone. The prefix "mynccen" meaning nuns, was added at sometime between 1086 and 1221, at which point it became recorded as Minchenhantone. The name now means the "The high place of the nuns", and it would seem that the priory belonged to the nunnery of Caen in Normandy. Locational surnames are nearly always "from" names. That is to say names given to people after they left their original homes, as easy identification by their new neighbours. Spelling over the many centuries being at best erratic and local dialects very thick, lead to the development of "sounds like" spellings. In this case the surname is well recorded in the surviving registers of the diocese of Greater London from the mid 18th century, but possibly earlier in other places. The first recording is that of Charles Minchinton who married Elizabeth Shemas at the church of St Botolphs without Aldersgate, on September 17th 1761.