Recorded in a number of spellings all quite rare and including Maddigen, Maddinon, Maidenan, Matignon, Mation, and possibly others, this is a surname of French origins. It is almost certainly Huguenot protestant, and one of the estimated five thousand surnames of French origin which entered the British Isles during the the period from about 1620 to 1760, when the protestants of France were virtually terrorised out of existence. It is estimated that over fifty thousand of Frances most skilled workers came to England, and that they were mainly responsible for creating the Industrial Revolution which made Great Britain the foremost power in the world. However because of antipathy against the French from the succession of wars whivch had gone on for five centuries, many of the Huguenots gradually anglicised their name spellings to English, although often as with this name to English without a meaning. We believe it to be originally a place name from Brittany. The first recordings that we have are those of Peter Matignon who married Mary Mace at St Georges Chapel, Mayfair on August 20th 1753, and slightly later William Matignon and his wife the former Augustine Dellevort, who were christening witnesses at St Anne's Soho, Westminster, on November 9th 1771.

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