Iddenden

Recorded as Iddenden, Idenden, Edenden, Ittenden, and possibly others, this is an English surnames. It is locational and presumably from some place in one of the surname spellings, except that no such place is to be found in any of the known gaxetters of the British Isles. This suggests that it originates from a now "lost" medieval village, a phenomena which has so far produced about five thousand examples or roughly five percent of all surnames. Iden as a village name is to be found in both the counties of Kent and Sussex, and describes a pasture, or strictly speaking an area within a marsh suitable for pasture. The origination is the pre 6th century phrase "ig - denn" with "ig" meaning an island. We assume that Iddenden or whatever, was from the same area of England and had much the same meaning except that the centre part was originally -ing meaning "people of". Locational surnames are nearly always "from" names or surnames given to people after the left their original homes to move somewhere else. Spelling being at best indifferent quickly lead to "sounds like" spellings. Recordings from the county of Kent which seems to be an epicentre of the surname include Richard Idenden of Hawkhurst on January 4th 1595, and Richard Iddenden of Cranbrook, on July 26th 1601.