Beeken

This most interesting and curious surname may be of early medieval English or Old German origin. Firstly, the name may be an East Anglian and Lincolnshire variant of the English surname "Bacon", which itself has two possible origins: a metonymic occupational name for a preparer or seller of cured bacon, from the Middle English, Old French "bacun", bacon; or from the Germanic personal name "Bac(c)o, Bahho", from the root "bag-", to fight, which was introduced into England by the Normans in the form "Bacus". Secondly, the name may perhaps be a variant of "Becken", a German surname which is a Low German variant of Bach, itself a topographical name for someone who lived by a stream, from the Old High German "bach", a stream, brook. Hans and Otlia Becken were christening witnesses at Heroldsberg, Mittelfranken, Bayern, on March 28th 1546. Edmont, son of Robert Becon, was christened on December 28th 1558, at Hadleigh in Suffolk, while Anna Beeken was christened on March 22nd 1695, at Irmenach, Rheinland. Anne, daughter of William and Anne Beeken, was christened at Crowland in Lincolnshire, in 1731. In England, the name development includes Beacon, Beckonn (1561, Suffolk), Bekon (1573, Suffolk), Beacon (1713, Cambridgeshire), and Beeken (1766, Cambridgeshire). The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of William Bacun, which was dated circa 1150, in the "Staffordshire Chartulary", during the reign of King Stephen, known as "Count of Blois", 1135 - 1154. 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.