Recorded in a number of spellings as shown below, this is an English surname of locational origins. The palce name as Mortuna was first recorded in the famous Domesday Book of 1086, and referred to villages now called Moughton in Derbyshire, Warwick and Nottingham. The name probably means "The farm by the salmon lake" from the Olde English pre 6th century "mort", meaning salmon and "-ton" - a farm or settlement. In Elizabethan times the surname was recorded as Mortten, Morto, Mowghton, Moughton, Mouton, Moughtin and others. Amongst the very earliest of surname recordings is that of Sir Robert de Morteyne of Bedford in C1250. He appears in that spelling, in Glovers Roll of Chivalry, and as Robert de Morritune in the St. Georges Rolls of the same period. The coat of arms had the blazon of an Ermine field charged with a red chief. Later recordings include William Mouton, christened at St. Botolophs Church, Bishopsgate, London on June 11th 1564, whilst curiously Robert Mowghton was christened in the same church on July 7th 1569. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Robert de Moretone which was dated 1130, in the "pipe rolls of Warwickshire". during the reign of King Henry 111 known as "The Frenchman", 1216 -1272. 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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