This interesting surname is of English locational origin from Laxton in Northamptonshire, Nottinghamshire or in the East Riding of Yorkshire, recorded respectively in the Domesday Book of 1086 as "Lastone", "Leston", and "Laxinton". The placename derives from the Old English pre 7th Century personal name "Leaxa" plus "tun" meaning homestead or village; hence "Leaxa's homestead". During the Middle ages when migration for the purpose of job seeking was becoming more common, people often took their former village name as a means of identification, thus resulting in a wide dispersal of the name. The surname is first recorded in the latter half of the 13th Century (see below). One, Simon de Laxton, appears in the Norfolk Feet of Fines (1361). In the modern idiom the surname has many variant spelling including Laxson, Laxston, Laxtonne, Laxen, Laxon, etc.. Robert Laxton, was christened at St. Margaret's, Westminster, in July 1562. The marriage of Elizabeth Laxton and Thomas Stradling took place on November 15th 1621, at St. Augustine Watling Street, London. On September 10th 1627, Ann daughter of Rycharde and Elizabeth Laxton, was christened at St. Bride Fleet Street, London. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Henry de Laxington, which was dated 1273, in the Hundred Rolls of Lincolnshire, 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.