Recorded as Marden, Mordan, Mordin, Mordon, Murden, and Morden, this is an English locational surname. It is believed to orginate from any of the places called Marden, Morden, Moreden, and Mordon, which have their own individual meaning and derivation. For instance Marden in Herefordshire, recorded as "Maurdine" in the Domesday Book of 1086, derives from the British "magno", plain, and the Olde English pre 7th Century "worthign", enclosure, whilst Morden in Cambridge means the hill amongst the fens and is first recorded as Mordun in the year 1015. The place in Kent is recorded as Meredenna in the Pipe Rolls of 1166 and this is a derivation from the Olde English "miere" meaning a mare as in a horse, and "denn", a pasture; hence the grazing area for mares. "Boundary hill" is the translation of Marden in Sussex, recorded as "Meredone" in the Domesday Book, composed of the Olde English elements "maere", boundary, and "dun", hill. Finally, Marden in Wiltshire is recorded as "Meresdene" in the Domesday Book, and derives from the Olde English "mearc", boundary, and "denu", valley; hence, "boundary valley". The first recorded spelling of the family name in any form is probably that of John de Mordon of Cambridge in the Hundred Rolls of Landowners of 1273, Robert de Murdone appears in Devonshire in the same period, whilst in the surviving early church registers of the city of London John Marden was a christening witness at the church of Allhallows in 1588, during the reign of Queen Elizabeth 1st of England, 1558 - 1603. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.

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