This name, with variant spellings Winborne and Winburn, derives from residence by the Wimborne river in Dorset. Recorded as Winburna in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, dated 705 A.D., the name derives from the Olde English pre 7th Century "Winn" meaning "meadow" or "pasture", plus "burna", a spring, brook or stream, hence, "Meadow Stream". On this river are Wimborne Minster, Wimborne St. Giles and Monkton up Wimborne, all of which were recorded as Winborne in the Domesday Book of 1086 for Dorset. The surname, with variant spellings is well recorded in London Church Registers from the late 16th Century, (see below). On February 2nd 1676, John Winborn and Mary Worsley were married in All Hallows, London Wall and on April 2nd 1698 Josias Winburn, an infant was christened in St. Martin-in-the-Fields, Westminster. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Agnes Winborne married Gabriel Keechin, which was dated March 31st 1589 in St. James' Church, Clerkenwell, London, during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, Good Queen Bess, 1558 - 1603. 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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