Seckington

This interesting name of English origin is a locational name from a place so called in Warwickshire. The derivation is from the Olde English pre 7th Century 'Secca', a personal name of unknown origin and 'dun' a hill, thus Secca's hill. The place name is first recorded as 'Seccandun' in 755 (The Anglo Saxon Chronicle) as 'Sechintone' in the Domesday Book, and in the Pipe Rolls of Warwickshire in 1175 as 'Sechendon'. During the Middle Ages people migrating from the birth place often adopted their village name as a means of identification. One James Seckington the infant son of William and Mary Seckington was christened at Willoughby, Warwickshire on 25th March 1849. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Isabell Sekenton, which was dated 1538, Coleshill, Warwickshire, during the reign of King Henry VIII, 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.