Standen

This interesting name is of early medieval English origin, and is locational from places so called in Berkshire, Lancashire and Wiltshire, which derive from the Olde English pre 7th Century "stan", meaning stone(s), and "denu", meaning a valley, hence, "stony valley", and they appear first in the Domesday Book of 1086 as "Standeue". There is also a Standen on the Isle of Wight, first recorded in the Domesday Book as "Standone", with the second element deriving from "dun", meaning a down or a hill, thus, "stony hill", and a village of this name in Kent, which may derive from either "denu" or "dun". Locational surnames were usually acquired by a local landowner, or by the lord of the manor, and especially by those former inhabitants of a place who had moved to another area, and were thereafter best identified by the name of their birthplace. Among the Church Recordings in Kent are the marriages of Clemence Standen and Thomas Butt, on October 8th 1595, at Shipbourne, and of James Standen and Elizabeth Bourdman, on October 7th 1596, at Tonbridge. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Richard Standen which was dated April 19th 1585, marriage to Anne Booreman, at Headcorn, Kent, during the reign of Queen Elizabeth 1, known as "Good Queen Bess", 1558 - 1603. 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.