This most interesting surname is of Anglo-Saxon origin, and is an English locational name from any of the places so called, widespread in England; for example, Sutton in Bedfordshire, which appears as "Sudtone" in the Domesday Book of 1086. These placenames derive from the Olde English pre 7th Century elements "suth", south and "tun", an enclosure or village, a common placename element in England. Hence, the name means "the settlement of a main village". The surname dates back to the Domesday Book of 1086 (see below) while Alnod Suttuna was recorded in 1086 in Cambridgeshire in Ancient Records of Ely. The surname appears a number of times in the 1379 Poll Tax Records of Yorkshire as "de Sutton", the "de" prefix meaning "of". Interesting namebearers include Oliver Sutton (deceased 1299) bishop of Lincoln, 1280 - 1299, who joined Archbishop Winchelsey in resisting the taxation imposed by Edward 1 in 1296; Thomas Sutton (1532 - 1611) founder of the Charterhouse, London, who was thought to be the richest commoner in England; & Robert Sutton (1594 - 1668) first Baron Lexington, who fought on the side of Charles 1. Families named Sutton were granted a total of forty-nine Coats of Arms. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Ketel de Sudtone, which was dated 1086, in the Domesday Book of Lincolnshire, during the reign of King William 1, known as "William the Conqueror", 1066 - 1087. 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.

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