Eaton

This interesting name is of Anglo-Saxon origin, and is a locational surname deriving from any one of the numerous places called Eaton found in most of the midland and north-midland counties of England. Most of these places are named with the Olde English pre 7th Century "ea", river, with "tun", enclosure, settlement, and are variously recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as "Etone", "Etune", "Ettuna", and "Ettone". The other places called Eaton are named with the Olde English "eg", island, low-lying land, with "tun", as before, and are mostly recorded in the Domesday Book as "Eitone" and "Eitune". The modern surname has two main forms, Eaton and Eyton. Among the recordings of the name in London are those of the christening of John Eaton, at St. Lawrence Jewry, on January 20th 1566, and the marriage of Edward Eaton and Clemence Jordan at St. Mary's, Woodchurch, on October 15th 1570. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Peter de Eton, which was dated 1273, in the "Hundred Rolls of Huntingdonshire", during the reign of King Edward 1, known as "The Hammer of the Scots", 1272 - 1307. 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.