This interesting surname is of English locational origin from Sproston in Cheshire, recorded as "Sprostune" in the Domesday Book of 1086 and as "Sprouston" in the Chartulary of the Abbey of St. Werburgh, Chester, in 1271. The placename derives from the old English pre 7th Century personal name "Sprow" plus "tun" a homestead, village or town; hence "Sprow's homestead. During the Middle-Ages when migration for the purpose of job seeking was becoming more common, people often took their former village name as a means of identification, thus resulting in a wide dispersal of the name. The surname is first recorded in the mid 16th Century (see below). In the modern idiom the surname has many variant spellings including Sproston, Sprosson, Sprowson, Sprasen, Sprason, etc.. Recordings of the surname from St. Giles Cripplegate Church Registers, London include; the marriage of Edward Sproson and Alice Nash, which took place on August 3rd 1615; the christening of Robert son of Edwynd Sprowson on November 3rd 1622, and the marriage of Mary Sproson and Vinson Partridge on February 3rd 1644. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Hugh Sproston, witness at a christening, which was dated April 1543, at Nantwich, Cheshire, during the reign of King Henry V111, known as "Good King Hal", 1509 - 1547. 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.