This very unusual name, found chiefly in the north western counties of England, is of Old Norse origin, and is a diminutive form of the surname Iddon, also found as Idney and Edney. The name represents a rare survival of the Old Norse female personal name "Idunn, Idhuna", the name of a goddess of spring, derived from the Old Norse "idh", work, labour, with "unna", love. This given name was often recorded in the Latin form "Idonea" in the 13th and 14th Centuries, as a result an erroneous etymological association ith the feminine form of the Latin "idoneus", suitable. The surnames generated by the personal name range from Iddon and Idden and the diminutives Innett, Innot(t), Hen(n)et(t), Hin(n)et(t) and Hin(n)itt, to the metronymic forms Iddins, Iddison and Ineson. The following examples illustrate some of this development: Joannes Henit (1570, Somerset); Hennrye Hennit (1590, London); Thomas Henet (1594, Lancashire); Jane Innet (1600, Kent); and Barnabee Inot (1618, London). Among recordings of the name in Church Registers are the christening of John Hinnett at St. Andrew's, Holborn, London, on December 26th 1739, and the marriage of James Hinitt and Elizabeth Bradbury, on June 14th 1825, in Manchester Cathedral, Manchester, Lancashire. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Richard Hennet, which was dated February 11th 1564, marriage to Aliceson Wilkinson, at Kirkham, Lancashire, during the reign of Queen Elizabeth 1, known as "Good Queen Bess", 1558 - 1603. 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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