This surname is of medieval English origin, and is a locational name from any of the various places in England thus called, including Claydon in Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire, and Suffolk. Botolph, East, and Middle Claydon (Buckinghamshire), recorded as "Clai(n)done" in the Domesday Book of 1086, and respectively as "Botle Cleidun, Est Cleydon" and "Middelcleydon" in the Feet of Fines for the county, dated 1242, are so called from the Olde English pre 7th Century "claeg(en)", clayey (soil), and "dun", down, hill, mountain; "Botolph" is a popular etymology for the Olde English "botl", house, building, manor. Steeple Claydon, also in Buckinghamshire, entered as "Claindone" in the Domesday Book, and as "Stepel Cleydon" in Episcopal Registers, dated 1209, is named from the same Olde English elements, "Steeple" is from the church teeple. Claydon in Suffolk and Oxfordshire, appear respectively as "Clainduna" in the Domesday Book, and as "Claindona" circa 1160 in the "Registrum Antiquissimum" (Oxfordshire). Locational surnames, such as this, were originally given to local landowners, and the lord of the manor, and especially as a means of identification to those who left their birthplace to settle elsewhere. On February 15th 1561, Elizabeth, daughter of William Claydon, was christened at St. James' Church, Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk, and on May 11th 1561, Alice Claydon married Robertus Foxe at Ashdon, Essex.William Claydon,March 30th 1551, marriage to Jane Walman, at St. Sepulchres, Cambridgeshire,King Edward V1, known as "The Boy King", 1547 - 1553.ClaydonThis is a dialectually transposed variant of the Olde English pre 7th Century "Cloeg-tun" meaning "the dweller at the farm on the clay", although in medieval times and later the 'T" was occassionally replaced by "D", suggesting "a Hill of Clay", which is not realistic. This is not to suggest that "Claydon" is not a recognised name in its own right, it certainly is, and increasingly son in the past two hundred years. A Coat of Arms was granted to Claydon of Essex. This was Silver, charged with a Fesse dancette, implying command in Battle between three red escalop shells, the badge of the Pilgrim. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Sir Robert Cleydon. which was dated 1629 - 1707, of Bletchington, Surrey. during the reign of King George III, "Farmer George" 1760 - 1820. 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.