This interesting and unusual surname is of Anglo-Saxon origin, and is locational from two places so called, in Lincolnshire and in Durham. The placenames are derived from the Old English pre 7th Century "cweorn", mill, which must have referred to a windmill, because the Old English "cweorning", mill stream, would not have been found in low-lying districts, and the Old English "tun", settlement, enclosure. The most likely meaning, of the placenames is "the settlement of the millers", from the Old English "cweorningas". The place in Lincolnshire was recorded as "Corninctun" in the Domesday Book of 1086. Locational surnames were developed when former inhabitants of a place moved to another area, usually to seek work, and were best identified by the name of their birthplace. The modern surname can be found as Quarrington, Quarringten, Quarendon and Quarenden. Among the sample recordings in London are the marriage of George Quarrington and Susannah Stacey on August 6th 1700 at St. Pancras, Old Church, and the christening of Henry, son of John and Alice Quarrington, on June 18th 1704 at St. Mary's, Whitechapel, Stepney. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Anne Quarendon (marriage to Humfrey Powyson), which was dated May 15th 1547, St. Margaret's, Westminster, London, during the reign of King Edward V1, "The Boy King", 1547 - 1553. 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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