This surname is of Anglo-Saxon origin, and is a locational name from places so called in Hertfordshire, Oxfordshire, Staffordshire and Yorkshire. The places in Hertfordshire and Oxfordshire appeared as "Wigentone" in the Domesday Book of 1086, which also recorded the places in Staffordshire and Yorkshire as "Wigetone" and "Wichintun", respectively. All of these placenames have the same derivation, that is, they are composed of the Olde English pre 7th Century personal name "Wicga", from the Olde English "wicga", a beetle, plus the Olde English "-tun", settlement, enclosure; hence, "Wigca's settlement". During the Middle Ages, when migration for the purpose of job-seeking was becoming more common, people often used their former village name as a means of identification, resulting in a wide dispersal of the name. Early examples of the surname include: Roger de Wygynton, who appears in 1273, in the Hundred Rolls of Oxfordshire; John de Widington, recorded in the Hundred Rolls of Lincolnshire in 1273; and Samuel de Wygenton, mentioned in the Book of Fees, circa 1307. Gyles Wigginton married Elizabeth Alport on October 28th 1599, at St. Matthew, Walsall, Staffordshire. The Coat of Arms most associated with the family depicts on a silver shield a bend between six black lozenges. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Guido de Wygynton, which was dated 1273, in the "Hundred Rolls of Oxfordshire", during the reign of King Edward 1, known as "The Hammer of the Scots", 1272 - 1307. 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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