Weldon

This is an English locational surname of great antiquity. It originates from either of the two parishes called Weldon in the diocese of Peterborough, in the county of Northamptonshire.The name derives from the pre 7th century Olde English "waella" meaning a spring and "dun", a mound or hill or possibly "dene", a valley. Locational surnames were usually given to the lord of the manor and his descendants, or as may well be the case here, to people who left the village(s) and moved elsewhere. "Elsewhere" may have been the next village, or as with early recordings of Weldon, the next county, or it may have been a far away place like London, but either way one of the easiest ways of identifying a stranger was to call him or possibly her, by the name of the place from whence they came. Early examples of the surname recording taken from authentic rolls and charters of the period include Lucas de Weldon of Lincolnshire, in the Hundred Rolls of that county, and Hugh de Weledon, also of Lincoln, in the same rolls of 1273. Philippa Weldon was married in London in 1546, whilst William Weldon of Northampton, was recorded in the register of students for Oxford University in the year 1596. The earliest known recording of the family name anywhewre is probably that of Geoffrey de Weldone of Huntingdon, recorded in the Hundred Rolls for that city in 1273. This was in the reign of King Edward 1st, known as "The Hammer of the Scots", 1272 - 1307.