This interesting surname is of English locational origin from a number of places. Firstly it may be from one of four places called Coddington, in Berkshire, Cheshire near Malpas, Cheshire near Northwich and Surrey, recorded respectively as Cudintuna in the "Registrum Roffence" (1120), Cuntitone in the Domesday Book of 1086, Cudinton "Inquisitions Miscellaneous" (1278) and Codintone in the Domesday Book. The placename derives from the Old English pre 7th Century personal name "Cuda" plus "tun" an enclosure or homestead; hence "the homestead of Cuda's people". It may also be from Cudham in Kent, recorded as "Codeham" in the Domesday Book. The first element is again the given name Cuda plus the Old English "ham" meaning a village, manor or homestead; hence "Cuda's village". The surname is first recorded in the mid 16th Century (see below). On June 17th 1565, Dorethe Cuddon married Robert Grastock, at St. Gregory by St. Paul, Shoreditch, London and Sarah, daughter of John Cuddon, was christened in January 1630, at St. Margaret's, Westminster, london. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Agnes Cuddon, who married Lawrence Mayhew, which was dated September 21st 1550, Beddingfield, Suffolk, during the reign of King Edward V1, "The Boy King", 1547 - 1553. 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.