This uncommon name is of Anglo-Saxon origin, and is a locational surname deriving from any one of several places called Dorrington. There are places so called in Lincolnshire, near Sleaford; in Shropshire, near Woore; and another in Shropshire, near Condover, that was originally called "Dodintone". The Dorrington in Lincolnshire was recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as "Derintone", while the first mentioned place in Shropshire s "Derintune" in Domesday. Both placenames share the same meaning and derivation, which is "the settlement of Deore's or Deora's people", from the Olde English pre 7th Century personal name "Deor", from "deor", dear, beloved, with the suffix "-ing(as)", people, tribe of, and "tun", enclosure, settlement. Dorrington near Condover is recorded as "Doolinton" in the Fees Court Rolls of 1198, and is so called from the Olde English personal name "Dodda", from a Germanic word meaning "rounded", with "-ing(as)tun" as before. Locational names were used as a means of identification particularly by those who left their birthplace to settle elsewhere. Examples of the surname from Church Registers include: the christening of Edwarde Dorrington at Bourne in Lincolnshire, on October 26th 1577; and the marriage of John Dorrington and Elisabeth Larkyne at St. Margaret's, Westminster, London, on July 23rd 1581. A Coat of Arms granted to a family of the name is a paly of six silver and green, on a red chief three bezants. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Robert Dorrington, which was dated January 26th 1559, christened at Betley, Staffordshire, during the reign of Queen Elizabeth 1, known as "Good Queen Bess", 1558 - 1603. 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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