Donaway - Nom du défunt

Recorded as Donaway, Donnaway, Dunaway, and Dunnaway, this famous surname has obscure and unproven origins. It is well recorded in the surviving church registers of the city of London from the begining of the 18th century as shown below, and therefore the assumption has to be that it is English. It appears to be locational, that is to say a surname from a 'place', usually a small village. However there does not seem to be any such place in any of the known surname spellings, in the gazetters of the British Isles for the past three centuries. This suggests that the origination is from a now 'lost' medieval village, whose name may have been derived from the pre 7th century words 'dun' meaning a hill or possibly 'dune' meaning a valley, and 'weg', a road or 'way'. For instance the surviving villages of Dunmow in Essex and Dundon in Somerset, translate as 'hill meadow' and 'valley (by the) hill' respectively. Locational surnames were 'from' names. That is to say names usually given to people after they had left their original homesteads to move somewhere else. Spelling over the centuries being at best indifferent and local accents very thick, soon lead to the development of 'sounds like' forms,. In this case examples include John Donaway who married Elizabeth Spurry at St Giles Cripplegate on March 23rd 1718, and Dorcas Dunaway who married Emanuel Dudson at St Katherines by the Tower on July 19th 1721, both examples being in the city of London.