Recorded as Haiden, Haydan, Hayden, Haydney, Haydny, Haydon, Heydon, Haydone, Hydone, and possibly others, this is an English and occasionally an Irish, surname. If English it is locational from any of the many places in England called Heydon and Haydon such as the village of Haydon in Dorset. This is recorded as Heidon in the tax rolls known as the Feet of Fines for the county of Somerset in the year 1201, whilst the village of Haydon in Wiltshire is recorded as Hydon in the Book of Fees, in 1242. It is thought that essentially all villages derive their general meaning from the Olde English pre 7th Century words "heg", meaning hay, although some say "hege", meaning hedge, or from "gehaeg", meaning an area of land in the forest cleared for agriculture. To this has been added the suffix of "dun", generally meaning a down, or possibly a hill. In some instances the surname may be of Irish origin, and a developed form of the ancient Gaelic O' Eideain, meaning a male descendant of Eidean. This was a personal name from "eideadh", meaning armour, and therefore probably a warriors name. Early examples of recordings include Walter Haydon in the Subsidy Rolls of Somerset for1327, whilst recordings church registers include the marriage of Jane Hayden and Nycholas Asheton on October 28th 1552, at St. Michael's Cornhill in the city of London, and in Devonshire the rare recording of John Hadney and his wife Rebecca, at Tormoham, on December 26th 1707, The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Thomas de Haiden. This was dated 1200, in Curia Regis rolls of Essex, during the reign of King John, 1199 - 1216. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.

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