This name is of English locational origin from any of the various places thus called for example, Belton in Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Suffolk and Rutland. Recorded respectively as Beltona, Beltone, Bealton and Beletuna in the Domesday Book of 1086 for the above counties, the second element in all cases, is the Olde English pre 7th Century "tun", a farm or settlement, plus an obscure first element believed to be either an Olde Norse personal name Beli or the Olde Norse bil or bael meaning "interspace", used here to describe a forest glade or piece of dry land in fenny country (where a settlement was established). The surname is first recorded in the mid 13th Century, (see below). In 1273 one, Gervase de Belton appeared in the Hundred Rolls of Suffolk. John Belton who embarked from London on the ship "Faulcon" on April 14th 1635 was an early emigrant to the New World, settling in the Barbados. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Hamon de Belton, witness, which was dated 1257, in the Fine Court Rolls of Norfolk, during the reign of King Henry 111, known as "The Frenchman", 1216 - 1272. 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.