This uncommon name is of Anglo-Saxon origin, and is a variant form of the locational surname Partington, from the place so called now situated in Greater Manchester. The place is recorded in the County Court, City Court and Eyre Rolls of Chester as "Partinton" in 1260, and is named with the Olde English pre 7th Century personal name "Pearta" (of obscure etymology but also found in the placenames Parlington, Pertenhall and Pertwood), with the Olde English suffix "-ing(as)", denoting "people, tribe of", and "tun", settlement, enclosure; thus, "the settlement of Pearta's people". Locational surnames were used particularly as a means of identification by those who left their birthplace, usually in search of work, and settled elsewhere. Regional dialectal differences, and varying standards of literacy, subsequently gave rise to variant forms of the original name, which is now found as Partington, Parrington, Perrington and Purrington. Henry de Partinton is listed in the Cheshire Assize Rolls of 1260, and Hugh de Partyngton appears in the Assize Rolls of Lancashire in 1401. Recordings of the name from Church Registers include those of the marriages of James Parrington and Elizabeth Hulme in Eccles, Lancashire, on April 13th 1626, and of Thomas Parrington and Ema Mason on November 29th 1692, at Dent in Yorkshire. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Katheren Parington, which was dated June 25th 1581, marriage to Lambert Grundie, in Leigh, 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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