Millington
One-Name Study

Topics

• About the Millington One-Name Study
• Variants
• Origin of the surname
• Historical occurrences
• Frequency of the name
• Distribution of the name
• Data
• Links
• Contact Details

About the Millington One-Name Study

The Millington One-Name study commenced in 1992. Like many one-name studies, it grew out of an attempt to trace my own ancestry. I was seeking the location of my 3 x great-grandfather Edward Millington in the 1851 census, without success and began to collect an increasing collection of Millington entries (Edward eventually turned up 150 miles from home on a convict hulk on the Thames). The name was registered with the Guild of One-Name Studies in 1994.

Variants

The registered variants of the name are Millinton and Mullington. Millingham which appears to be a name from the Dudley area is not considered a variant.

Origin of the surname

The Millington surname is a locative one, i.e. it is derived from one or more place names. In the case of the Millington name, there are two potential sources, one in Cheshire and one in the East Riding of Yorkshire. The place name is Saxon in origin.

Historical occurrences

There are few Millington's who have espoused greatness. Some of the most well known include:

• Gilbert Millington (c. 1597 - 1666/7), the Regicide and M.P. for Nottingham in the Long Parliament. Gilbert's signature can clearly be seen in the penultimate column on the Death Warrant of Charles I. On the restoration of the monarchy, Gilbert was exiled to Jersey Castle where he died. Gilbert's line died out in the male line after two generations.
• Mary Millington (died 1978) was a porn star of the 1960s whom many males of a certain generation will fondly remember! Sadly due to financial difficulties, she committed suicide in 1978. However, Millington was her stage name and not her birth name.
• Abraham Millington, a coffin maker of St Helena, whose most famous customer was one Napoleon Bonaparte.

Frequency of the name

From the index of the 1881 census produced by the Church of Latter Day Saints, there were 4,546 Millingtons recorded in that census. This gives a frequency of 1 in 5681 or 0.0176% of the population.

According to an ONS database there are some 8828 Millingtons as of September 2002. This gives a frequency of 1 in 6162 or 0.0162% of the population. This makes it the 873rd most common name in England and Wales. This suggests that the Millington name is growing less slowly than the population as a whole.

Distribution of the name

In the 1881 census the most populous counties are Staffordshire (836 entries), Lancashire (751), and Cheshire (485). However, the most densely populated county is Flintshire with 185 entries in a population of 80, 587, representing 0.2296% (or 1 in 436).

Data

All of the Millington entries from the General Register Offices for England & Wales (since 1837) and Scotland (since 1855) have been recorded (some 57,000 entries). This data can be found on the Guild web site (requires registration unless you are a member of the Guild).

All grants of probate since 1858 in England and Wales have also been recorded.

The one-name study also included numerous entries from Parish Registers as well as pedigrees submitted by many Millington researchers.

Links

A Millington mailing list can be found at: http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index/MILLINGTON.

Contact details

For further information, contact:

Mr Paul Millington
The Glade,
Ullingswick,
Herefordshire
HR1 3JF
UNITED KINGDOM
E-mail:

This page last updated 15 March 2010.

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Profiles of other one-name studies registered with the Guild may be found here.