Tipton

This interesting surname of Anglo-Saxon origin is a locational name from a place called Tipton in the West Midlands, deriving from the genitive case of an unrecorded Old English pre 7th Century personal name Tibba plus 'tun' meaning 'farm, homestead, settlement', hence, 'Tibba's tun'. The placename is recorded as Tibintone in the Domesday Book of 1086. The surname dates back to the mid 16th Century (see below). Church records include Vincent Tipton, who married Jane Haves on January 31st 1560 at St. Lawrence Pountney, London, and Johannes, son of Richi Tipton, who was christened on February 6th 1566 at Pontesbury, Shropshire. One Agnes Tipton married Thomas Butler on May 3rd 1584 at St. Dunstan's, Stepney. During the Middle Ages, when it was increasingly common for people to migrate from their birth place to seek work further afield, the custom developed that they would adopt the placename as a means of identification. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Thomas Tipton, who was christened, which was dated 1549, Pontesbury, Shropshire, during the reign of King Edward V1, 'The Boy King', 1547 - 1553. 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.