Eatend History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Origins Available:
England
Ireland

The Eatend name has descended through the generations from the ancient Anglo-Saxon culture. Their name comes from having lived on a farm by a river or a farm on an island. 1 The surname Eatend originally derived from the Old English word Eatun which referred to farm on a river or island. The surname Eatend 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. Habitation names form the other broad category of surnames that were derived from place-names. They were derived from pre-existing names for towns, villages, parishes, or farmsteads. Other local names are derived from the names of houses, manors, estates, regions, and entire counties. As a general rule, the greater the distance between an individual and their homeland, the larger the territory they were named after. For example, a person who only moved to another parish would be known by the name of their original village, while people who migrated to a different country were often known by the name of a region or country from which they came.

Early Origins of the Eatend family

The surname Eatend was first found in various townships named "Eaton," throughout Britain including those in Berkshire, Cheshire, Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, Salop, Herefordshire, Bedfordshire and more. Many of the villages and parishes date back to the Domesday Book of 1086 including: Castle Eaton, Wiltshire; Eaton, Norfolk; Eaton, Oxfordshire; Eaton Socon, Cambridgeshire and Eaton Bray in Bedfordshire. 1

One source claims that Cheshire is the original home to the family. "The Cheshire Eatons take their name from townships of the name in the county. The Eatons of Eaton, a very old and distinguished family, are probably the parent stock." 2

The Hundredorum Rolls of 1273 points to the earliest records of the family: Peter de Eton in Huntingdonshire; and Brian de Eton in Wiltshire. 3

Early History of the Eatend family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Eatend research. Another 70 words (5 lines of text) covering the years 1590, 1596, 1610, 1633, 1634, 1658, 1665, 1674, 1684 and 1890 are included under the topic Early Eatend History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Eatend Spelling Variations

Only recently has spelling become standardized in the English language. As the English language evolved in the Middle Ages, the spelling of names changed also. The name Eatend has undergone many spelling variations, including Eaton, Eton, Eaten and others.

Early Notables of the Eatend family

Notables of the family at this time include Samuel Eaton (ca.1596-1665), an English independent divine; Theophilus Eaton (c.1590-1658), a merchant, farmer, and Puritan colonial leader who was the co-founder and first governor of New Haven Colony, Connecticut; Nathaniel Eaton (1610-1674) English settler Massachusetts Bay Colony (c. 1634), the first schoolmaster of Harvard College in Cambridge, Massachusetts; and...
Another 57 words (4 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Eatend Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Migration of the Eatend family to Ireland

Some of the Eatend family moved to Ireland, but this topic is not covered in this excerpt.
Another 82 words (6 lines of text) about their life in Ireland is included in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Migration of the Eatend family

To escape the unstable social climate in England of this time, many families boarded ships for the New World with the hope of finding land, opportunity, and greater religious and political freedom. Although the voyages were expensive, crowded, and difficult, those families that arrived often found greater opportunities and freedoms than they could have experienced at home. Many of those families went on to make significant contributions to the rapidly developing colonies in which they settled. Early North American records indicate many people bearing the name Eatend were among those contributors: Alexander Eaton who settled in Boston Massachusetts in 1651; Eliza Eaton settled in Pennsylvania in 1682; Francis Eaton, his wife Sarah, and son Samuel, arrived on the ".

The Eatend Motto +

The motto was originally a war cry or slogan. Mottoes first began to be shown with arms in the 14th and 15th centuries, but were not in general use until the 17th century. Thus the oldest coats of arms generally do not include a motto. Mottoes seldom form part of the grant of arms: Under most heraldic authorities, a motto is an optional component of the coat of arms, and can be added to or changed at will; many families have chosen not to display a motto.

Motto: Vincit omnia veritas
Motto Translation: Truth conquers all things.

Citations +

Mills, A.D., Dictionary of English Place-Names. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991. Print. (ISBN 0-19-869156-4)
Guppy, Henry Brougham, Homes of Family Names in Great Britain. 1890. Print.
Bardsley, C.W, A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames: With Special American Instances. Wiltshire: Heraldry Today, 1901. Print. (ISBN 0-900455-44-6)