This name is of Anglo-Saxon origin, and is a locational surname deriving from either the place called "Eggleton" in the parish of Bishop's Frome in Herefordshire or from the place in Rutland called "Egleton", near Oakham. The place in Herefordshire is recorded as "Eglingtone" in 1212, and means "the settlement of Ecgwulf's people", derived from the Old English pre 7th Century personal name "Edgwulf", composed of the elements "ecg", edge, point (of a weapon), and "wulf", wolf, with the suffix "ing(as)", indicating "people of", and "tun", village, settlement. The place in Rutland is recorded as "Egiltun" and as "Egoluestun" in the Forest Charters of 1218, and means "Ecgwulf's settlement", derived from the same elements as "Eggleton". The modern surname can be found as Eggleton, Egleton, Egalton and Eagleton. The marriage of John Egalton and Rebecca James was recorded at St. Matthew's, Bethnal Green, London, on November 24th 1794. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Simon de Egilton, which was dated 1273, in the "Hundred Rolls of Rutland", during the reign of King Edward 1, known as "The Hammer of the Scots", 1272 - 1307. 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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