Pollington

This unusual and interesting name is of Anglo-Saxon origin, and is a locational surname deriving from the place called "Pollington" near Pontefract in West Yorkshire. The placename is recorded in the Yorkshire Charters of 1160 as "Pollingtonia" and as "Pouilgleton", and in 1197 as "Poulinton". There is some dispute about the meaning of the first element of the name, it is believed to be from an Olde English pre 7th Century word, "pofl" or "pofel", meaning a piece of low-lying land. The second element is the Olde English "tun", meaning a settlement, homestead or village. Locational names were usually given to the Lord of the Manor and to those former inhabitants who left to live or work in another area. One Margeret Pollington married Robert Bishoppe in October 1609 at Lamberhurst in Kent, and Anne Pollington and John Rayner, married in London in 1618. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Isabell Pollington (record of last will and testament) which was dated November 1460, at "Pollington, Yorkshire", during the reign of King Henry V1, known as "The Founder of Eton", 1422 - 1461. 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.