This name is of English locational origin from a place in Cheshire called Duddon. Recorded as Duddon in the 1288, Court Rolls of that county, the first element is the Olde English pre 7th Century personal name Dudda (a Cognomen of the Olde High German Dudo meaning "bag-pipe", and originally given as a metonymic occupational name to a bagpipe player), plus "dun", a mountain or hill pasture. The surname is first recorded in the mid 16th Century, (see below). On June 12th 1705, Thomas Dudden and Ann Marshall were married in Hope, Derbyshire and on September 25th 1797, Anne Dudden and Abraham Stitfold were married in St. Katherine Coleman's, London. The earliest recording of the original spelling Duddon in Cheshire is the marriage of Catherine Duddon and Jeffrey Stocken in Frodsham on October 2nd 1615. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of William Dudden married Margory Bryant, which was dated April 22nd 1547, in St. Margaret's, Westminster, London, during the reign of King Henry VIII, Bluff King Hal, 1509 - 1547. 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.