Recorded in sevetral spellings including Manten, Manton and Maunton, this is an English surname. It is locational and derives from the ancient villages of Manton, found in Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire or from residence at a farm (tun) on sandy soil (malm). The origins are Olde English pre 7th Century, the village names being recorded as Mameltune (Lincolnshire) and Mennetune (Nottinghamshire) in the Domesday Book of 1086. The surnames are much later as is normal, but still very ancient. The name development and recording includes Willemus de Manton, registered as being a 'smyth' in the Poll Tax rolls of Yorkshire in 1379, whilst in 1603, James Maunton married Amey Thorlbey at St. James Clerkenwell, in the city of London. One of the earliest settlers in the New American colonies was William Manton aged thirty, who sailed to 'Virginea' as spelt on the ship 'Abraham of London' in 1635. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Robert de Mantone. This was dated 1293, in the Curia Regis rolls of the county of Nottinghamshire, during the reign of King Edward Ist of England, and known as 'The Hammer of the Scots', 1272 - 1307. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was sometimes known as the 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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