Brockington

This unusual and interesting surname is of Anglo-Saxon origin, and is a locational name from Brockington in Dorset. Recorded as "Brochemtune" in the Domesday Book of 1086, and as "Brochampton" in the 1225 Feet of Fines of that county, the place was so called from the Olde English pre 7th Century "Brochaematun", meaning "the settlement of the dwellers on the brook", from "brock", brook, and "tun", enclosure, settlement. Locational surnames, such as this, were originally given to local landowners, and the lord of the manor, and especially as a means of identification to those who left their place of origin to settle elsewhere. Regional and dialectal differences subsequently gave rise to several variations on the original spelling of the name, which in the modern idiom appears as Brokintun, Brockingdun and Brockington. On June 24th 1661, Gulian Brockington and James Narracot were married at St. Thomas the Apostle, Exeter, Devonshire, and on November 23rd 1687, William Brockington, an infant, was christened in Church Lench, Worcestershire. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Johannes de Brochampton, which was dated 1225, in the "Feet of Fines of Worcestershire", during the reign of King Henry 111, known as "The Frenchman", 1216 - 1272. 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.