Baunton

Recorded in many forms as shown below, this is an English medieval surname. It is either a locattional surname from some place called Bantham in Devon, Banton in Stirlingshire in Scotland, Banton in Sussex, or Baughton in Worcestershire, or it was a nickname for a person with some fancied resemblance to the small bird called the Banting. The bird's name is of unknown origin; it may possibly be a derivative of a Germanic element "bunz" meaning "short and thick", or "little barrel". The word is recorded early on as the first component of the name Buntingford, a place in Hertfordshire, which appears as "Buntingeford" in the 1185 Records of the Templars in England. Whether locational or a nickname the surname first appears in the late 13th century, and forms are known to include Bunting, Banting, Buntine, Buntin, Bunten and Bunton, Banton, Bantin, Baunton, Buntain, Bontein, and Bontne. Early examples in surviving church registers include Anne Banton who was christened at St Margarets church, Westminster, on July 1st 1606, Elizabeth Bantin, who married John Bartlett at Christ Church, Spitalfileds, London, on December 31st 1711, and the marriage of Sarah Banting to Michael Martindale on July 6th 1732 at Christ Church, Greyfriars, Newgate, London. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Alice Buntyng. This was dated 1273, in the "Hundred Rolls of Suffolk", during the reign of King Edward 1st, 1272-1307. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.