This is a locational name derived from the East Anglian dialect, rather than the actual village name which is Gidding in Suffolk, or Gedding near Huntingdonshire. In both cases the origin is the same, Anglo-Saxon pre 8th Century, the translation being the place of Gydda's people'. The name is one of the earliest on record dating from 743 A.D. as 'Gyddan', the village(s) being recorded as Gedinga and Geddinge in the 1086 Domesday Book. In the modern idiom the name has at least six spellings, Gidden, Giddens, Giddings, Gittens, Gittins and Gittings. The plurals probably implying a patronymic 'son of Gyddan'. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Nicholas de Gedding, which was dated 1272, The County Pipe Rolls of Essex, during the reign of King Edward I, 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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