Weeden

This interesting surname is of Anglo-Saxon origin, and is a locational name from places called Weedon in Buckinghamshire and Northamptonshire; the former appears as "Weodun" circa 944 in the Saxon Chronicles, while the latter was recorded as "Wedone" in the Domesday Book of 1086. These placenames share the same derivation, from the Olde English pre 7th Century elements "weoh", a pagan temple, and "dun", a hill. During the Middle Ages, when migration for the purpose of job-seeking was becoming more common, people often took their former village name as a means of identification, resulting in a wide dispersal of the name. In the modern idiom the surname has several spellings including Weeden, Weedon and Wedon. Early examples of the surname include: Ralph de Wedone, mentioned in the Buckinghamshire Hundred Rolls of 1273; Nicholas de Wedon, of Nottinghamshire, in the Book of Fees, circa 1273; and Henry de Wedon of Buckinghamshire, recorded in 1292. One Robert Weeden is mentioned in the Register of Oxford University in 1582. A Coat of Arms granted to a family of the name at Hall Court, Sussex, depicts on a silver shield two red bars, with three black martlets in chief, and the Motto "Credo", (I believe). The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of John de Wedon, which was dated 1273, in the "Hundred Rolls of Buckinghamshire", during the reign of King Edward 1, known as "The Hammer of the Scots", 1272 - 1307. 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.