This name is of English locational origin from any of two places thus called - Milington in Cheshire, recorded as Mulintune in the Domesday Book of 1086, and Milington in the East Riding of Yorkshire appearing as Milleton in the Domesday Book. The name in both cases, derives from the Olde English pre 7th Century "Mylen - tun" meaning "the tun (farm or settlement) with a mill". The surname from the latter source is first recorded in the early 13th Century (see below). One, John Millington, of Millington near Bowdon, appears in "Wills Records of East Cheshire" circa 1530. An interesting name bearer was Sir Thomas Millington (1628 - 1704) professor of natural philosophy at Oxford (1675), court physician and knighted (1680).The Coat of Arms most associated with the family has the blazon of a silver shield, theron a black eagle displayed with two heads, the crest being a bull's head erased, with the motto: Virtutis proemium honor translating as "Honour is the reward of virtue". The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Peter de (of) Milington, witness, which was dated 1206, The Fine Court Rolls of Yorkshire, during the reign of King John known as "Lackland", 1199 - 1216. 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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