Fitton

There are two possible origins of this interesting name. Firstly, it was a common medieval term "fitten" for lying, or deceit, and would have been used as a nickname. Secondly it could be a locational name from Fitton hall in Leverington, Cambridgeshire which probably gets its name from the Old Norse "fit", grassland on the bank of a river and the Old English pre 7th Century tun, a settlement. In St. Margaret's, Lothbury, London one Benjamin Fitton son of George Fitton was christened in 1584. A famous namebearer being Mary Fitton (flourished 1600), maid of honour to Queen Elizabeth. She was the daughter of Sir Edward Fitton and was most doubtfully identified with the "dark lady" of Shakespeare's sonnets. She was mistress of William Herbert, third earl of Pembroke, and married Captain W. Polwhele (1607) and Captain Lougher. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Richard Ffyton, which was dated 1188, The Chartulary of Whalley Abbey, Lancashire, during the reign of King Henry 11, "the Builder of Churches", 1154 - 1189. 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.