Mollindinia

This is, perhaps not surprisingly, one of the rarest names on the modern English surname list. It is probably Spanish and a derivation of Mollino or Mollinari from the Valencia Region, but similar names are also recorded in the Armenian regions of the eastern mediterranean. In heraldry a "Moline" is a form of cross, and in the pre surname period before 1000 A.D., the word was used as a given name. In this case however, we believe it to be a form of patronymic, possibly even a double diminutive, "the son of the son of Moline". The first date in England suggests a "forced" emigrant status associated with the Napoleonic Wars of 1794 - 1815. The recordings include William Mollindina who married Jane Preston at St. James Church, Paddington on August 6th 1834 in the reign of William IV (1830 - 1837). The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Anthony Mollindinia, which was dated December 11th 1799, married Ann Sampson at St. Leonards, Shoreditch, during the reign of King George III, "Farmer George", 1760 - 1820. 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.