Tointon - Name

This is a surname of Olde English pre 7th Century "tribal" origins. It derives from one of the four villages in Lincolnshire known as High Toynton, Low Toynton, Toynton All Saints and Toynton St. Peter. The name translates literally as "The Hamlet (Ton) of the Teoda people", with "Teoda" being an early personal name. The villages are first recorded in the 1086 Domesday Book, the spellings being variously "Todintune" and "Totiuntuna"; whilst later in the 1234 Rolls they appear as "Tynton" and "Toynton". Toynton All Saints appears in the 1234 Rolls as Thoynton Omnium Sanctus, so it is hardly surprising that the surname had several forms, including Toynton, Tointon, Toyington and Townton. Locational names were taken either by the original squires and/or by former inhabitants who left their original villages, voluntarily or often under "Force Majeure". Either way the name appears in London in the early 17th Century when one George Toynton married Alice Baker on June 10th 1633, at St. Dunstan's Church, Stepney. However by January 24th 1635, the name spelling had changed to Tointon, when the same George was recorded at the christening of his daughter Margaret Tointon, also at St. Dunstan's. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of John Toynton, which was dated August 19th 1561, christened at Legsby, Lincolnshire (parents not recorded), during the reign of Queen Elizabeth 1, known as "Good Queen Bess", 1558 - 1603. 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.