This unusual and interesting name has a number of possible origins. The most likely of these is of Anglo-Saxon origin, from one of the places called Quinton in Gloucestershire, Northamptonshire and Worcestershire. The first of these places is recorded in 848 as "Quentone", and in the Domesday Book of 1086 as "Quintone". The name means "the queen's manor", derived from the Olde English pre 7th Century "cwen", queen, with "tun", enclosure, farm, estate. Another possible origin is from the Old French given name "Quentin" or "Quintin", which means "fifth-born", from the Latin "quintinus", and a further French origin is locational from anyone of the places in Normandy named from St. Quentin of Amiens. Quainton is a variant of the more common surname Queinton. Henry Quinton, aged 20 yrs., was one of the earliest settlers in the New World, having travelled to Virginea, from London aboard the "Bonaventure" under James Ricrofte, in January 1634. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Gladewin de Quenton, which was dated 1176, in the "Pipe Rolls of Berkshire", during the reign of King Henry 11, known as "The Builder of Churches", 1154 - 1189. 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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