This name is of early medieval origin, and is a locational surname from the place called "Padley" in Derbyshire. The placename is first recorded in 1220 as "Paddeley", and means either "Padda's glade", or "clearing frequented by toads or frogs", the derivation being from the olde English pre 7th Century personal name "Padda", or "Pade", frog, toad, with "leah", glade, clearing in a wood. Locational names were usually given to the Lord of the Manor and local landowners, and especially to those former inhabitants who left their original homes to live or work in another area. The name development has included Henry de Padelay (1379, Yorkshire) and William Paddeley, or Padley, (1504, Nottinghamshire). Anne, daughter of Thomas Padley, was christened on the 7th October 1599 at St. James's, Garlickhithe, London. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Nicholas de Paddeleye, which was dated 1275, in the "Derbyshire Hundred Rolls", 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.

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