Eden

This interesting and unusual surname is of Anglo-Saxon origin and is the patronymic (the "s" denoting son of) form of the name Eden, itself derives from the Old English pre 7th Century personal name "Eadhun", with the Middle English development "edun", and composed of the elements "ead", prosperity, and "hun" a bear cub. The following example illustrates the name development, after 1327 (see below) Stepheyn Edoun (1327, Subsidy Rolls of Suffolk), Dorothy Eddins was christened on October 24th 1622 at St. Mary's Whitechapel and Jane Eddins married Robert Goodman on April 12th 1694 at St. James Dukes Place, both in London. In the modern idiom the variants include Eadon, Eaden, Eden, Edens and Edon. The oldest and most pervasive type of surnames are those derived from the personal or given name when they were originally composed of disparate elements in the language and bestowed for their auspicious connotations. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Roger Edun, which was dated 1327, in the "Subsidy Rolls of Cambridgeshire", during the reign of King Edward 111, known as "The Father of the Navy", 1327 - 1377. 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.