This unusual name is of Cornish locational origin, from any one of the various places called Tredinnick near Bodmin, Liskeard and St. Issey, for example. Some of the places derive the name from the Cornish word "tre", meaning homestead, or settlement, plus "dynek", meaning "fortified", a derivative of "dyn", fort. In some instances the second element of the name is "eythynek", meaning "overgrown with gorse", or "redenek", "overgrown with bracken". Locational surnames were acquired especially by those former inhabitants of a place who had moved to another area, and were thereafter best identified by the name of their birthplace. Among the recordings of the name in Cornwall are those of the marriage of Elizabeth Tredinnick and Degorie Cloke on August 6th 1648 at Landrake, and the christening of one Jenifer Tredinick on March 16th 1754 at St. Agnes near Truro. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Ralph de Tredenek, which was dated 1297, Accounts of the Earldom of Cornwall, during the reign of King Edward 1, "The Hammer of the Scots", 1272 - 1307. 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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