Gaydon History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Origins Available:
England
Scotland

The name Gaydon first arose amongst the Anglo-Saxon tribes of Britain. It is derived from their having lived in the area of Cheshire that was referred to as the hill of Gaega, Gaega being an Anglo-Saxon personal name. Gaydon is a topographic surname, which was given to a person who resided near a physical feature such as a hill, stream, church, or type of tree.

Another source notes the name could have been a local name having derived from the Viking "geit" + "tun," and literally meant "farmstead where the goats are kept." 1

Early Origins of the Gaydon family

The surname Gaydon was first found in Lincolnshire where three of the earliest records of the family were listed. The first was Robert de Geiton who was listed there in the Pipe Rolls of 1193 2, the second and third were Ralph de Gayton and Richard de Gayton, both listed there in the Hundredorum Rolls of 1273. 3

Much further to the north in Scotland, Geoffrey de Gaytun was Burgess of Aberdeen in 1275 and Galfridus dictus de Gaytun, appears as a charter witness there in 1231, but this source notes that the name was "of English origin from one or other of several places of the name in England." 4 A migration to Scotland must be presumed.

We discovered a township in Cheshire, a parish in Norfolk; a parish in Northamptonshire; a parish in Staffordshire; and two parishes in Lincolnshire all named Gayton. The Norfolk, Staffordshire and Lincolnshire parishes are listed in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Gaituna, Gaitone and Gettone respectively. 1 5

Early History of the Gaydon family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Gaydon research. Another 95 words (7 lines of text) covering the years 1200, 1273, 1317, 1608, 1666, 1720, 1744, 1745, 1747, 1754, 1755 and 1787 are included under the topic Early Gaydon History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Gaydon Spelling Variations

One relatively recent invention that did much to standardize English spelling was the printing press. However, before its invention even the most literate people recorded their names according to sound rather than spelling. The spelling variations under which the name Gaydon has appeared include Gayton, Gaydon, Gaytun, Gaton and others.

Early Notables of the Gaydon family

Notables of this surname at this time include: Edmund Gayton (1608-1666), English author, son of George Gayton of Little Britain, London; he was born there 30 Nov. 1608. 6Clark Gayton (1720?-1787?), was a British admiral who after serving as a midshipman in the Squirrel with Captain Peter Warren on the coast of North America, and subsequently as a lieutenant in the West Indies, was promoted by Commodore Knowles to command the Bien Aimé storeship on 12 Aug. 1744. In July 1745...
Another 81 words (6 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Gaydon Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Migration of the Gaydon family

At this time, the shores of the New World beckoned many English families that felt that the social climate in England was oppressive and lacked opportunity for change. Thousands left England at great expense in ships that were overcrowded and full of disease. A great portion of these settlers never survived the journey and even a greater number arrived sick, starving, and without a penny. The survivors, however, were often greeted with greater opportunity than they could have experienced back home. These English settlers made significant contributions to those colonies that would eventually become the United States and Canada. An examination of early immigration records and passenger ship lists revealed that people bearing the name Gaydon arrived in North America very early: Richard Gayton settled in Barbados in 1680 with his servants; Roger Gayton arrived in Maryland in 1774.

Contemporary Notables of the name Gaydon (post 1700) +

Professor Alfred Gaydon, F.R.S

Citations +

Mills, A.D., Dictionary of English Place-Names. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991. Print. (ISBN 0-19-869156-4)
Reaney, P.H and R.M. Wilson, A Dictionary of English Surnames. London: Routledge, 1991. Print. (ISBN 0-415-05737-X)
Bardsley, C.W, A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames: With Special American Instances. Wiltshire: Heraldry Today, 1901. Print. (ISBN 0-900455-44-6)
Black, George F., The Surnames of Scotland Their Origin, Meaning and History. New York: New York Public Library, 1946. Print. (ISBN 0-87104-172-3)
Lower, Mark Anthony, Patronymica Britannica, A Dictionary of Family Names of the United Kingdom. London: John Russel Smith, 1860. Print.
Smith, George (ed), Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co., 1885-1900. Print