Radden

Recorded in the various spellings including Raddon, Radden, Raden, Redan, Reddan, and Reddon, this surname is English and locational. It originates from either a now "lost" medieval village called "Raddon" or similar, or it is topgraphical and describes a person who lived by an ancient boundary marker on a hill. The derivation is probably from the Old English pre 7th century words 'ra', meaning a post or marker, and don, a hill. Over five thousand British surnames are believed to originate from now 'lost' villages of which the only public memory in the 20th century is the surname, as in this case, in a number of spellings. This surname in its different forms is well recorded in the London area, which may suggest a southern place of origin. These early recordings include Elizabeth Raden christened at St Georges chapel, Hanover Square in 1690, and Ebenezer Redon, who was christened in 1692, at St. James Church, Dukes Place, also London. A 'Midlands' recording for a century or so later shows that on May 23rd 1820 William Raden married Susannah Smith Willis at Aston Juxta church, Birmingham, Warwickshire. The first recorded spelling of the family name is believed to be that of Grace Radden, which was dated August 21st 1647, when she married Andrew Ford at London by civil licence. This was during the reign of King Charles 1st, known as "The Martyr", who reigned from 1625 to1649, when he was beheaded, the last but by no means the first English king to lose his life in a violent ending. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop", often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.