Baynham

This unusual and interesting name is of early medieval Welsh origin, and is a relatively modern form of the Old Welsh patronymic "ap Einion" or "ap Eynon". The personal name derives from the Welsh "einion", anvil, an implement representing stability and fortitude. One Einion yrth was noted in ancient documents of Wales, dated 420 A.D., and an Ennian filius (son of ) Gieruerth appears in the 1159 Pipe Rolls of Shropshire. Early examples of the patronymic include: Cadugan ap Eynon (Radnorshire, 1285); Iorworth ap Egnon (Cheshire, 1287); and Griffith ap Beynam (Carmarthenshire, 1539). In the modern idiom the surname has many variant forms, ranging from Beynon, Benian, Bennion, Benyon and Baynham to Pin(n)ion, Pinyon and Pinyoun. The form Baynham is most widespread in Gloucestershire. In 1501, Alex Baynham was High Sheriff of Gloucestershire, and in 1623, the son of Robert ap Eignon, of Chorewell, in the forest of Dean, spelled his surname Baynham, the name by which the family is now known. James and Sarah Bennion were recorded variously in Shropshire Registers as Bynam and Baynom in 1670, and in 1698 they are Baynham. A Coat of Arms granted to the Baynham families of Kent and Gloucestershire is a red shield with a chevron between three silver bulls' heads cabossed, armed gold, the Crest being a gold bull's head couped at the neck. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of John Baynham, which was dated 1455, in "A Descriptive Catalogue of Ancient Deeds", Worcestershire, during the reign of King Henry V1, known as "The Founder of Eton", 1422 - 1461. 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.