Recorded in the spellings of Stoven, Stovin, Stovine, Stoving, and possibly others, this is an English locational surname. It originates from the villaged of "Stoven" in the East Anglian county of Suffolk, but most if not all early recordings are from almost as far away as possible, in North Lancashire. The village name and hence the surname, derives from the Olde English word of the pre 7th century "stofyn" meaning a tree stump, but more probably a particularly large tree around which the early villagers would have gathered for their council meetings. The village is first recorded in the famous Domesday Book of the year 1086 as "Stoune" and later in 1254 as "Stofne". Locational surnames were usually given to people after they left their original home, and moved elsewhere. It was and it remains so, that one of the easisest methods of identification is to call people by the name of the place from where they came. Early examples of the surname recordings include William Stovin of Caton, in Lancashire in 1627, and Richard Stoving of Heysham, also Lancashire in 1707. The first known recording is believed to be that of Edmund Stovine, in the Wills register of Richmond, Yorkshire, in the year 1612.

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