A locational name derived from the villages of Gedding near Huntingdon or Gidding near Stowmarket in Suffolk. The name is Anglo-Saxon pre 7th century and is personal meaning 'Gedds family place' - with 'Gedd' perhaps being a development of God - a word which originally meant 'good'. In the modern idiom the name has six spelling variations: Gidden, Giddens, Giddings, Gittens, Gittins and Gittings. The spelling, Giddings is first recorded in 1702 when one, Richard Gunning married a Mary Giddings in St. Dionis Backchurch - London Marriage Licence Records. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Nicholas de Gedding which was dated 1272, in the "Pipe Rolls of Essex" 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.