Recorded in the relatively modern spellings of Darrington, Derington, Derrington, and Durrington, this is an English surname. It is locational from a place called Darrington in the West Riding of Yorkshire, near to the town of Pontefract. The place name and hence the later surname according to the 'Dictionary of English Place Names', means 'The place of the Daegheard people,' but without explanation as to who this tribe were. The first recording of the place name is in the famous Domesday Book of 1086 as 'Darnitone'. This spelling may indicate that the meaning is possibly from the Ancient British word 'derwa' meaning oak. This is found in such Yorkshire and Lancashire place and river names as Darwen, Darent and Derwent. Locational surnames are often 'from' names. That is to say names that were either those of the local lord of the manor and his or sometimes her, descendants, or as in this case names given to people after they left their original homes to move somewhere else. The first known recording is from Lincoln with that of Robert de Derington in the Hundred Rolls for that county in 1273, whilst in the Poll Tax rolls of Yorkshire in 1379 we have the recording of Robertus de Daryngton.

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