This name is of English topographic origin deriving from the old English pre 7th Century "tyn" meaning "ten" plus "tun" translating variously as "an enclosure, homestead, settlement". Hence, "the settlement of ten homesteads". It is also possible that the first element derives from the Cornish "din" meaning a "hill" or "fort" with later provection to "tin" as in Tintern, recorded as Dindyrn in the 12th Century. In this case the name would translate as "the settlement by the hill on fort". The surname is well recorded in London Church Registers from the mid 16th Century, (see below). On October 18th 1620, John Tinton, son of George and Elizabeth Tinton, was christened at St. Bride's, Fleet Street, London. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Margery Tynton married Emery Pausforth, which was dated October 30th 1541, at St. Margaret's, Westminster, during the reign of King Henry V111, "Bluff King Hal", 1509 - 1547. 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.