Recorded as Talton, Taulton and Tawlton, this is an English surname. It is an excellent example of the locational surname group, originating from the small village of Talton in the county of Worcestshire. This village is first recorded in the year 991 a.d. as 'Taetlintun', meaning the place of the Taetel tribe, has one of the very oldest surviving recordings anywhere. The meaning of the name is unclear except that the village of Tatsfield in Surrey has the same derivation, and it is known that the Taetel in that name was an early banker or moneylender. Locational surnames are usually 'from' names. That is to say names given to people after they left their original villages to move somewhere else. Spelling over the centuries being at best erratic, and local dialects very thick, often lead to the development of 'sounds like' spellings. In this case the name is well recorded in the surviving church registers of the diocese of Greater London, but not at all in those of Worcestershire until that of John Talton who married Ann Leary at St Clements Worcester, on December 27th 1802. Earlier examples are those of Richard Tawlton at St Margarets Westminster, on March 10th 1610, and Rachell Talton who married William Browne at St Dunstans in the East, Stepney, on May 3rd 1658.

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