Leverington - Name

This uncommon surname is of Anglo-Saxon origin, and is a locational name from the parish and village of Leverington in the Isle of Ely, north west of Wisbech in Cambridgeshire. Recorded as "Leverinton" in the 1210 Curia Regis Rolls of that county, and as "Leverington" in the Feet of Fines, dated 1239, the place was so called from the Olde English pre 7th Century male given name "Leofhere", a compound of the elements "leof", dear, beloved, and "heri", army, with "ing", people of , and "tun", enclosure, settlement; hence, "settlement of Leofhere's people". 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. On June 20th 1551, Elisabeth Leuryngton and John Hawye were married at St. Peter Mancroft, Norwich, Norfolk, and on February 19th 1570, Ann, daughter of Cuthberti Leverington, was christened at Worstead, also in Norfolk. The marriage of Eleanor Leverington to John Coles took place at Whittlesey, Cambridgeshire, in 1625. A Coat of Arms granted to the Leverington family is an azure shield with three silver hares in pale. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Willm Leverington, which was dated October 4th 1548, marriage to Johana Wawma, at St. Stephen's, Norwich, Norfolk, during the reign of King Edward V1, known as "The Boy King", 1547 - 1553. 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.