Staden

Recorded as Staden, Stadden, Staddon and possibly others, this is an English surname. It is locational n from a number of places called Staddon in the county of Devonshire. These places were originally recorded as Stodddun, deriving from the pre 7th century elements "stod" meaning a herd of horses and later a stud, and "dun" a hill; hence "a hill frequented by (wild) horses". Locational surnames are usually from names. That is to say names given to peoiple after they left their original villages to live somewhere else. Early examples of recordings from the Devon church registers include Alice, the daughter of John Staddon, who was christened on August 20th 1605, at Tiverton; the christening of Grace, daughter of Peter Staden, on July 26th 1610, at Hennock; whilst on November 14th 1615, Avis Stadden married John Gammyn at Berrynarbor. The first recorded spelling of the family name in church registers, (there may be earlier examples in unprublished charters) is believed to be that of Christopher Stedon. He married Ibot Hayman on September 16th 1586, at Branscombe in Devon, during the reign of Queen Elizabeth 1st, known as "Good Queen Bess", 1558 - 1603. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was sometimes known as the Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.