This interesting name, with variant forms Cardon, Carding and Carwardine, has two distinct possible origins, the first being a nickname from the Old French "cardon" meaning "thistle", and originally given to an obstinate or unapproachable person. The surname from this source is first recorded in the latter part of the 11th Century (see below), and one Richard Cardun was noted in the 1121 Records of Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk. The second possibility is that the name is of Anglo-Saxon origin, and locational from a place in Cheshire called Carden. The placename was recorded as "Kawrdin", circa 1235, in A History of the County of Chester, and as "Cawardyn" in 1302, and was so called from the Olde English pre 7th Century "carr", a rock, and "worthign", an enclosure or homestead. Locational surnames were developed when former inhabitants of a place moved to another area, usually to seek work, and were best identified by the name of their birthplace.The surname has the distinction of being first recorded in the Domesday Book (see below) and one Richard de Carwardyn was noted in Accounts of the Chamberlains of Chester in 1302. Recordings from Cheshire Church Registers include the christening of Caterine Carden on June 26th 1591, at St. John the Baptist, Chester. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of William Cardon, which was dated 1086, in the Domesday Book of Essex, during the reign of King William 1, known as "The Conqueror", 1066 - 1087. 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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