This unusual surname has a complicated origin. It is multi-national and multi-meaning, and however spelt can be English, German, Polish and Eastern European or Slavonic. These many spellings include: Raden, Radin, Rading, Radden, Raddens, Raddin, Redan, Reddan, and Reddon, and they have at least three possible origins. The first is locational and residential and describes people who originated from places called Radin, in Germany, or Raddon in England. The second origin is topographical and again residential, and describes a person who lived by a 'radon'. This was an ancient boundary marker on a hill. In this case the derivation is from the Old English and Anglo-Saxon (Germanic) pre 7th century words 'ra', meaning a post or marker, and 'don', a hill. The third possible meaning and origin is from a pre Christian Germanic and Slavonic personal name of endearment 'Rad', meaning 'glad'. This is usually found with a suffix such as '-in' meaning 'son of' or '-ing', meaning 'the people or tribe'. Early examples of the surname recording taken from surviving rolls, charters and registers of the medieval period include: Theodricus von Rade of Mulhausen, in the year 1375, Jakob Radwitz , the rector of the University of Leipzig in 1419, Laux Rading, of Ulm in 1530, and Anna Raden, christened at the Evangelist church, Konigsberg, Brandenburg, on October 24th 1583. Other recordings include: Elizabeth Radin, who was christened at St Georges chapel, Hanover Square, city of London, England, on September 30th, 1690, Ebenezer Redon, who was christened on March 1st 1692, at St. James Church, Dukes Place, also London, and in Germany, Anna Radin, the daughter of Johannes and Ursula Radin, christened at Hausen Catholic church, Donakreis, Wuerttemberg, on July 20th 1770. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation, in England this was sometimes 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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