Wheeldon

This name is of Anglo-Saxon origin, and is a locational surname from either the place in Derbyshire called Wheeldon, or the place called Whielden in Buckinghamshire. Wheeldon is so called from the Olde English pre 7th Century word "hweol", meaning "wheel", with "dun", hill; the "wheel" referring in a transferred sense to the rounded shape of the hill. Whielden is derived from the Olde English "hweol", wheel, as before, with "denu", meaning "valley"; hence, "a rounded valley". Locational surnames were usually given to the lord of the manor, and to those former inhabitants who moved away to live or work in another area. The modern surname can be found as Wheeldon, Wheelden, Wheldon, Wildon and Whieldon. Recordings from London Church Registers include: the marriage of Cicilie Wheeldon and John Milborne on October 26th 1635, at St. Gregory by St. Paul; the marriage of Elisabeth Wheeldon and Nathaniel Lee on August 30th 1692, at St. James', Duke's Place; and the christening of Sarah, daughter of Richard and Margrat Wheelden, on July 28th 1777, at St. Olave's, Hart Street. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Hugo de Hweldon, which was dated 1279, in the "Hundred Rolls of Oxfordshire", 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.