This unusual name is of Anglo-Saxon origin, and is a locational surname deriving from either of the places called 'Edlington', one of which is near Horncastle in Lincolnshire and the other near Doncaster in Yorkshire. The place in Lincolnshire is recorded as 'Ellingetone' in the Domesday Book of 1086, and the place in Yorkshire as 'Eilintone', and both share the same meaning and derivation. The placename means the settlement of 'Edel or Edla's people', derived from the Old English pre 7th Century personal name 'Eedel' or 'Edla', a short form of any of the various personal names with the first element 'Aethel', with the Old English suffix '-ing', indicating 'people, or kin of', and 'tun', settlement, enclosure, village. The marriage of Margaret Edlington and John Ellye was recorded on the 8th November 1578 at Lissington, Lincolnshire. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of John Edlyngton (christening), which was dated March 1543, St. Margaret's, Westminster, during the reign of King Henry VIII, '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.

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