Newing

This most interesting surname has two possible origins. Firstly, it may be of Anglo-Saxon origin, as a nickname given to a newcomer to an area, from the Olde English pre 7th Century "neowe", Middle English "newe", new, and the suffix "-ing". Secondly, the name may be of topographical origin, as a surname for someone who lived by a yew tree, from a misdivision of the Middle English phrase "atten ew", meaning at the yew tree (from the Olde English "aet thaem eowe"), with the suffix "-ing", meaning "dweller at" when attached to a topographical name. Topographical surnames were among the earliest created, since both natural and man-made features in the landscape provided easily recognisable distinguishing names in the small communities of the Middle Ages. Newing itself is also found in the placename Newington, the name of places in Kent, London, Lothian, Nottinghamshire and Oxfordshire. The surname is found quite regularly in Kent Church Registers, which include the christening of Sylvma Newyn on October 4th 1573, at St. Alphege's, Canterbury, and the christening of John, son of William Newing, at St. Laurence's, Thanet, on March 23rd 1632. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Robert Nuien, which was dated January 24th 1541, christened at Willesborough in Kent, during the reign of King Henry V111, known as "Good King Hal", 1509 - 1547. 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.