Recorded in a wide range of spellings as shown below, this is a surname of early medieval Welsh origins. It derives from the patronymic "ap Einion" or "ap Eynon", from the word "einion", meaning an anvil, and in 'name' terms, representing stability and fortitude. One Einion Yrth was noted in ancient documents of Wales, dated 420 a.d., and Ennian filius Gieruerth appears in the Pipe Rolls of Shropshire in 1159. Early examples of the patronymic include: Cadugan ap Eynon of Radnorshire, in 1285; Iorworth ap Egnon of Cheshire, in 1287; and Griffith ap Beynam of Carmarthenshire, in 1539. In the modern idiom the surname has many variant forms, ranging from Beynon, Benian, Bennion, Benyon, Baynham and Bayman, to Pinnion, Pinyon and Pinyoun. Alexander Baynham was High Sheriff of Gloucestershire in 1501, and in 1623, the son of Robert ap Eignon, of Chorewell, in the forest of Dean, spelled his surname Baynham, the name by which the family is now known. Hugh Bayman married Harriet Callige at Canturybury Cathedral, Kent, in 1656, whilst James and Sarah Bennion were recorded variously in Shropshire Registers as Bynam and Baynom in 1670, although by 1698 they too were Baynham. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was sometimes known as the Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.