Oakden

This is an English locational surname of Anglo-Saxon origin, deriving either from the places in West Yorkshire or in Lancashire called "Ogden", or from other minor places so called. The placename means "the oak valley", derived from the Old English pre 7th Century "ac", oak, with "denu", valley. Locational names were given particularly to those former inhabitants of a place who left it to live or work in another area, and were thereafter known as, for instance, Richard de (of) Okeden, recorded in the 1332 Lancashire Subsidy Rolls. The marriage of Samuel Ogden to Alice Chadderton was recorded on April 29th 1592 in Manchester. One Randall Ogden was an early emigrant to America, leaving London in March 1634, bound for the Barbadoes. The Coat of arms most associated with the family depicts a black shield, on a silver fesse six golden acorns and three oak leaves. The Crest being a stag's head, between two oak branches. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Elias de Aggeden (witness), which was dated 1246, in the Lancashire Assize Rolls, during the reign of King Henry 111, known as "The Frenchman", 1216 - 1272. 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.