English Blagdons

Date: [unknown] [unknown]
Location: [unknown]
Surnames/tags: Blagdon Blagden

Contents 1 Why BLAGDON? 2 Origin of the Blagdon surname 3 Notable Namebearers 4 Resources

Why BLAGDON?

I participated in Thomas MacEntee's "Genealogy Do-Over" in 2015, and began with my BLAGDON line in Devon and Cornwall, because it had come to a stop at 1800 with my then-'brick wall ancestor', John Blagdon. I have been fortunate in that FindMyPast have not only indexed the Devon registers, but have also scanned the originals. So, to my delight, I was able to go further back...and back...and back (with sources!). During this journey, I became familiar with all the names and closer to the people, and decided to start up a Blagdon Surname Study with The Surname Society. I added upon it with this WikiTree version.

Origin of the Blagdon surname

This interesting name is of Anglo-Saxon origin, and is a locational surname deriving from any one of the places called "Blackden" or "Blagdon", or "Blagden farm" in Hempstead, Essex. Blackden in Cheshire, Blagden in Essex and Blagdon in Northumberland share the same meaning and derivation, which is "the dark or black valley", derived from the Old English pre 7th Century "blaec", black, with "denu", valley, while the places called Blagdon in Devon, Dorset and Somerset, recorded as "Blakedone" in 1242, "Blakeson" in 1234, and "Blachedone" in the Domesday Book of 1086 respectively mean "the black hill", derived from the Old English "blaec", black, and "dun", down, hill, mountain.

The modern surname can be found as Blackden, Blagden and Blagdon. One John Blagden was christened at St. Mary Magdalene, Bermondsey, London, on December 28th 1595. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Roger de Blakeden, which was dated 1275, The Worcestershire Subsidy Rolls, during the reign of King Edward 1, known as "The Hammer of the Scots", 1272 - 1307. 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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Read more: http://www.surnamedb.com/Surname/Blagdon#ixzz3wC0i9yXh

Notable Namebearers

• Sir Charles Blagden (1802), English writer on music and philosophy
• Sir Charles Brian Blagden FRS (1748-1820), British physician and scientist
• Charles Otto Blagden (1864-1949), English orientalist and linguist
• Claude Martin Blagden (1874-1952), Anglican bishop
• Crawford Blagden (1881-1937), American football player
• Edward Blagdon (1800-1827), English cleric
• Emery O Blagdon (1907-1986), American artist
• Francis William Blagdon (1778-1819, English journalist and author
• George Washington Blagden (1802-1884), American clergyman
• Henry Blagdon, mayor of Tiverton, Devon, England 1683
• Isa Blagden (1816-1873), English-language poet and novelist
• John Blagdon (1799-1853), English landed gentry
• Joseph Charles Blagdon MD (1894-1961), Canadian doctor
• Nicholas Blagden (1661) , English actor (King's Company)
• William Blagden or Blagheen (b 1832), Union Navy sailor (American Civil War)

Resources

• List of Blagdons on Wikitree
• G2G feed of questions tagged "Blagdon".
• Orphaned Blagdon profiles on WikiTree.
• Unsourced Blagdon profiles on WikiTree.
• Unconnected Blagdon profiles on WikiTree.