This name is locational and derives from the village of Panton in Lincolnshire. The origin is Olde English and Viking pre 9th Century and the development is from Pampa - Tun 'the farm (tun) on the Mound, Hillock or Ridge'. It is also possible that the surname can derive from 'Panten', a very old word which probably translates as 'the stream in the valley' and itself derives from 'pente-staed', pre 6th Century. The modern surname development includes Hester Pounton (1659) at All Hallows, London, Isayah Pountaine who married Mary Mobert at St, Giles, Cripplegate, on July 19th 1666, John Pontin recorded on January 31st 1682 and David Ponting who married Priscilla Wiggins on October 19th 1800 at Putney Church. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of John Pownton, which was dated August 15th 1585, married Elizabeth Hall at St. Mary at Hill, London, during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, 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.