This interesting recorded in a number of spellings including Barrington, Berrington, Bornton, and Borrington, is of English pre 7th century origins. It is a locational surname from the villages of Barrington in Gloucestershire, Somerset and Cambridgeshire. These village names and hence the surname derive from the personal name "Bara", related to the German (Anglo-Saxon) "Baro", a nickname for a troublesome person (!), plus "ing", a tribe, and "ton", a settlement.As the invading Anglo-Saxon's were definately "troublesome" to the existing English, there may be a double meaning to the name. The surname is also quite popular in Ireland. An English family called Barrington settled in County Leix, Ireland, around the middle 16th century, whilst other Barrington's established themselves in County Cork circa 1650. Early examples of the surname recording taken from authentic church registers include Judeth Barrington, who married John Barker on February 11th 1593, at St. Benedict's, Cambridge, Anthonye Barrington, christened on July 22nd 1599, at Tewkesbury in the county of Gloucestershire, whilst Isack Borrington married Amy Culcup, at Sy Giles Cripplegate, London, on Boxing Day, 1652, in the "reign" of Oliver Cromwell. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Warin de Barenton, which was dated 1273, in the "Subsidy Rolls of Cambridgeshire", during the reign of King Edward 1, known as "The Hammer of the Scots", 1272 - 1307.

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