The small village of Dennington in Suffolk, which was recorded in the 1086 Domesday Book as "Dingifetuna" and also in the same book as "Dingivetuna", is the locational origin of this surname. By the year 1190 the County Pipe Rolls were recording it as Dinniveton, from which the modern spelling is a clear derivation. Usually for early recordings i.e. Medieval, "Dingiue" or correctly "Denigifu" was an Anglo-Saxon female name, plus the Old English "Tuna" meaning a farm, or possibly a small settlement, clearly the spirit of Boadecia still lived on! The surname development is much later, and it is probable that the early name holders were victims of "sheep", being driven from their arable lands to make way for the economically more viable sheep farming in late medieval times. The name development includes Margaret Denentin who married William Dene at St. Mary's Church, Woodbridge, Suffolk on February 16th 1628, and Edward Deneton of South Cove christened on March 15th 1646, in the reign of Charles 1 1625 - 1649. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Clements Denington, which was dated April 16th 1648, a christening witness at the church of St. Martins in the Field, Westminster, during the reign of King Charles 1, "The Martyr", 1625 - 1649. 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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