This uncommon and interesting name is of Anglo-Saxon origin, and is a locational surname found chiefly in the East Anglian regions. Sabberton or Saberton are the usual surname forms of the placename Sapperton, examples of which are to be found in Derbyshire, Gloucestershire, Lincolnshire and Sussex. The first three of these places are recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as "Sapertune, Sapletorne" and "Sapretone", respectively, while the Sussex Sapperton is recorded in 1210 as "Sabertona". All of these places share the same meaning and derivation, which is "the settlement of the soap-makers", derived from the Olde English pre 7th Century "sapera", soap-makers, from "sape", soap, with "tun", enclosure, settlement. Most modern bearers of the surname, especially in East Anglia, derive their name from the place in Lincolnshire, because there was extensive migration from that region in connection with the medieval wool-trade. Examples of the surname from Church Registers include: the christening of Margaret, daughter of Robert Sabberton, on May 4th 1615, in Downham, Suffolk, and the marriage of William Sabberton and Mary Draper at Wentworth, Cambridgeshire, on April 24th 1616. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Wylliam Saberton, which was dated September 29th 1566, witness at the christening of his daughter, Anne, at St. Margaret's, Westminster, London, during the reign of Queen Elizabeth 1, known as "Good Queen Bess", 1558 - 1603. 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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