This uncommon name is of Anglo-Saxon origin, and is a locational surname deriving from either Dalston in Cumberland near Carlisle, or from Dalston in Middlesex, north London. The place in Cumberland is recorded as "Daleston" in the 1187 Pipe Rolls of the county, and is derived from the Olde English pre 7th Century personal name "Dall", itself a derivative of "deall", meaning proud or resplendent, with "tun", settlement, village. Dalston in Middlesex is recorded as "Derleston" in 1294, and is derived from the Olde English personal name "Deorlaf" (dear love), with "tun", as before. Locational surnames were acquired especially by those former inhabitants of a place who had moved to another area, usually in search of work, and who thereafter used the name of their birthplace as a means of identification. Recordings of the surname from various Church Registers include: the christening of Thomas Dalston at Croston in Lancashire, on March 15th 1544, and the marriage of Barbara Dalston and William Tiffyn, on February 24th 1611, at Tottenham in London. A Coat of Arms granted to a Cumberland family of the name depicts, on a silver shield, a black chevron between three black daws' heads erased, beaked gold. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of (Homines) de Daleston, which was dated 1292, in the "Pipe Rolls of Cumberland", during the reign of King Edward 1, known as "The Hammer of the Scots", 1272 - 1307. 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.

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