This is a rare English locational surname of probably pre 7th century origins. It derives from a village called Walkington in the East Riding of Yorkshire, first recorded in the famous Domesday Book of 1086 as 'Wachetone'. This translates as the place (tun) of the 'Wealca' people (ing). There is a similarly named village (Walkingham) with the same translation in the West Riding of Yorkshire. There are two possible explanations for the name 'Wealca', the first being that it is a form of the Anglo-Saxon personal name 'Walco', whilst the second, and possibly more logical, being that is is a form of 'waelisc', whose modern equivalent is the word 'Welsh or Walsh', and meaning 'foreigner'. The near 'modern' spelling of the village name and hence the later surname dates from the year 1212. This was during the reign of the infamous KIng John of England (1199 - 1216), when it is recorded in the rolls known as 'The feet of fines', as Walkinton. The first known recording of the surname is in the Poll Tax rolls of the year 1379, when Thomas de Walkynton who was probably the lord of the manor of Walkington, appears in the records of Howdenshire, a then sub county of Yorkshire. Locational surnames by their very nature are usually 'from' names, that is to say they were given to people after they left their original homes and moved elsewhere. It being then, and often remains so today, that the easiest way to identify 'strangers' is to call them by the name of the place from whence they came. However in some cases a locational surname may also refer to the original land owner family, and this may well be the case here.

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