Recorded as Wadington, Waddington, Wodington, Wadiham and Waddingham, this is an English locational surname. It originates from any or all of the villages called Waddington in Surrey, Lincolnshire and the West Riding of Yorkshire, or Waddiham in Lincoln. All derive from the Olde English pre 7th Century personal name "Wada", plus "-ing", meaning the tribe or people of", and "tun or ham", a settlement; and hence, "The settlement of the Wada people". Locational surnames are "from" names. That is to say names given to people for easy identification after they left their original homes. In this case early examples of recordings include William de Wodiham in the Hundred Rolls of Norfolk in 1273, Walter de Wadington, in the Assize Court Rolls of Lancashire in 1276, and Laurencius de Wadyngton, in the Poll Tax register of Yorkshire in 1379. Walter Waddingham was christened at Coningsby in Lincolnshire on December 17th 1592, whilst Hanna Waddington, aged only sixteen, was one of the first emigrants to the New World colony of Virginia. She sailed from London aboard the ship "Safety" in August 1635. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Ogis de Wadinton. This was dated 1169, in the "Pipe Rolls of Lincolnshire", during the reign of King Henry 11, known as "The Builder of Churches", 1154 - 1189. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was sometimes 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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