This is an English locational surname of Anglo-Saxon origin, deriving either from the places in West Yorkshire or in Lancashire called 'Ogden', or from other minor places so called. The placename means 'the oak valley', derived from the Old English pre 7th Century 'ac', oak, with 'denu', valley. Locational names were given particularly to those former inhabitants of a place who left it to live or work in another area, and were thereafter known as, for instance, Richard de (of) Okeden, recorded in the 1332 Lancashire Subsidy Rolls. The variant Oakton was recorded in the 18th Century. On October 17th 1793, Benjamin Oakton married Ellen Lawton in Manchester Cathedral and on November 17th 1799, Elizabeth Oakton, daughter of George and Dinah Oakton was christened there. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Elias de Aggeden (witness), which was dated 1246, The Lancashire Assize Rolls, during the reign of King Henry 111, '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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