Binton

Recorded as Binden, Bindon, Bindin, Binthan, Binton and probably others, this is an English locational surname. It almost certainly originates from the village of Bindon in Dorset, first recorded in the year 1199 as Binnedon. The name means the village (binnan) inside a dun or hill, and was probably a reference to a hill that protected the village in some way. Unfortunately our research budget does not allow for the expence of a site visit! Locational surnames were usually "from" names. That is to say surnames given to people after they left their original village to move somewhere else, and in fact this name does not seem to be recorded in Dorset at all. Indeed it is unclear as to when the surname was first recorded, but we do know that it appeared in the city of London about the time of Oliver Cromwell and the English Civil War (1640 - 1660). King Henry V111th (1510 to 1547) introduced the registration of births, deaths, and marriages, and this system has generally proved to be an enduring record of British social history over more than five centuries. It has allowed us to trace this surname, one which does not seem to be recorded in any of the dictionaries of surnames. The registers of the city of London include Isaac Bindon, a christening witness at the church of All Hallows the Less, on February 17th 1655, whilst it is regularly recorded in Thornbury, Gloucester, as both Bindon and Binden. The first recording being that of Henry Binden and his wife Mary, on December 13th 1789, and they seem to have had about ten children.