Topics

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

About the Saddington One-Name Study

The Saddington One Name Study was registered in 2006. It is an in depth study of Saddington family history, but should be considered as a work in progress.

Saddington was my paternal grandmother's maiden name, and I was told a lot of stories about her family during my childhood. When I started researching my family history at the age of 15, I occasionally came across references to other Saddingtons, which I made a note of. These notes now form the basis of my One Name Study.

Variants

The registered surname is Saddington. Registered variants are Saddlington, Sadinton and Suddington.

These variants can also be varied by having a single or double 'd', or by adding or removing the 'g'.

Saddingtons have also been found lurking in the disguises of Laddington, Paddington and Shaddington.

Origin of the surname

The surname Saddington derives from the small village of Saddington in South Leicestershire. The village features in the Domesday Book as 'Sadintone' or 'Setintone'. In 1066, the Manor of Saddington belonged to Queen Edith, the wife of Edward the Confessor, and passed to William the Conqueror on her death in 1075.

The surname Saddington most likely originated with people who left the village and moved or travelled elsewhere, and would have become known, for example, as John de Saddington or John from Saddington, which eventually became John Saddington.

Historical occurrences

Historical or well-known Saddingtons include:

Robert de Saddington, son of John - Chancellor of England 1343 - 1345 - died circa 1361

John Saddington, born circa 1634 in Arnesby, Leicestershire - follower of Lodowick Muggleton, founder of the Muggletonians, a small English religious sect, which finally died out in 1979 - author of 'The Articles of The True Faith', first published in 1675, and 'A Prospective Glass for Saints and Sinners' - died in 1679

Wendy Saddington - Australian blues and jazz singer - any further information gratefully received

Jason Saddington, born 23 October 1979 - Australian Rules football player - played for the Sydney Swans for 8 seasons (1998 - 2005) - now playing for Carlton Football Club, Victoria

Frequency of the name

According to the Office of National Statistics (ONS) database, there were 1,326 Saddingtons living in England, Wales and the Isle of Man in September 2002, which made the surname the 5251st most common name in that geographical area. The ONS recommend multiplying this figure by 0.93 to obtain a figure for the current population, which gives an approximate figure of 1233 living Saddingtons today.

Data from the 1881 census shows that there were 604 persons called Saddington and 15 people called Sadington in Great Britain on the night of 3 April 1881.

In order to get an approximate figure for the number of Saddingtons who have lived since parish registers began in the 16th century, the ONS recommend multiplying their September 2002 figure by 3.5, which gives an approximate grand total of 4641 Saddingtons in the last 500 or so years.

Distribution of the name

The heartland of the Saddington surname has been South Leicestershire, Rutland and North Northamptonshire, which is only to be expected, based on the location of the village of Saddington.

However, using data from the 1881 census, it is clear that the surname Saddington has become quite widespread throughout England. Representatives of the name were found from Lancashire and the North Riding of Yorkshire down as far as Kent.

On a straightforward numerical basis, the largest populations in 1881 were to be found in Northamptonshire (131 Saddingtons), Leicestershire (93 Saddingtons) and Middlesex (81 Saddingtons).

However, if you consider the number of Saddingtons per 100,000 people per county in 1881, the surname was found most frequently in Rutland (135 Saddingtons per 100,000), Huntingdonshire (59 Saddingtons per 100,000), Northamptonshire (48 Saddingtons per 100,000) and Leicestershire (29 Saddingtons per 100,000).

Saddingtons are known to have emigrated to Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa and the United States.

Data

Data held includes:

GRO Indexes: Births 1837 - 1929, Marriages 1860 - 1939, Deaths 1837 -1839, 1860 - 1909

National Probate Index: 1858 - 1968

IGI: Incomplete extraction of Saddington entries

Census: Incomplete extraction of Saddington entries for all censuses currently released by The National Archives

DNA project

A DNA Project for the surname Saddington has now been set up at Family Tree DNA. Although it is in its very early infancy, its main objective is to answer that oft received question 'Are my Saddingtons connected to yours?' Access to the Project web page, which contains all of the information about the Project, is via the link below.

Links

The Saddington Family History Blog

Saddington DNA Project

Contact details

For further information, contact:

Ms Rowan E Tanner
25 The Poplars,
Rectory Road,
West Bridgford,
Nottingham
NG2 6BW
UNITED KINGDOM
E-mail:

This page last updated 30 March 2008.

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