This uncommon surname is of Anglo-Saxon origin, and is a locational name from the parish thus called, south west of Pocklington in the East Riding of Yorkshire. Recorded as "Waplinton" in the Domesday Book of 1086, and as "Waplingtona" in Early Yorkshire Charters, dated circa 1200, the component elements of the placename are the Olde English pre 7th Century "wapol", bubble, froth, related to the Old Friesian "wapul", pool, mire, with "ing", inhabitants of, and "tun", enclosure, settlement; hence, "settlement of the people at the pool or mire". Locational surnames, such as this, were originally given to local landowners, and the lord of the manor, and especially as a means of identification to those who left their birthplace to settle elsewhere. The surname, with variant spellings Wapplington, Waplinton and Whaplington, is particularly well recorded in Church Registers of Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire from the mid 16th Century (below). Entries include the christening of Anne, daughter of Emrey Waplington, at Beeston, Nottinghamshire, on April 20th 1600, and the marriage of John Waplington to Jone Jackson at St. Mary's, Nottingham, on September 5th 1603. On October 17th 1763, Joseph, son of Henry and Mary Waplington, was christened at the Old Meeting-Presbyterian, Il Reston, Derbyshire. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Agnes Wapplington, which was dated September 20th 1544, marriage to Bartholomew Hill, at Lenton, Nottinghamshire, during the reign of King Henry V111, known as "Bluff King Hal", 1509 - 1547. 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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