Laundon - Name

Recorded in the spellings of London, Lunnon, Londoner, and possibly Laundon, this unusual surname is of Ancient British pre Christian origins. It is a residential and usually describes the descendant of someone who came from the city of London, and moved elsewhere. This in itself was unusual, almost everybody went the other way, to the place where in legend "the streets were paved with gold". A secondary suggestion is that the name is in some cases at least, a nickname for a person who had made a visit to London, and returned to tell the tale! People in the medieval times did not undertake journeys lightly. A visit to the next village could mark a person for life, a visit to London or York, was something very special indeed. London, as a place is recorded by the Roman historian, Tacitus, in the years 115 - 117, then in its Latinized form of "Londinium". Seven hundred years later it is recorded in the famous Anglo-Saxon Chronicles of 839 as "Lundenne". The name is thought to derive from the Celtic element "lond", meaning wild or bold, and as such used either as a personal or a tribal name. Amongst examples of the early church recordings of the name is the marriage of Michaell London and Alice Lifford, at Farnham, Surrey, on August 8th 1568, whilst James Laundon is recorded At St Katherines by the Tower (of London) on January 22nd 1687. The novelist Jack London 1876 - 1916, was the author of the famous book "Call of the Wild", and a notable bearer of the surname. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Leofsi de Lundonia, which was dated 1086, in the Domesday Book, during the reign of King William 1, known as "William the Conqueror", 1066 - 1087.