Rampton - Name

This name is of English locational origin from a place in Cambridgeshire called Rampton or from Rampton in Nottinghamshire. The former was first recorded as Ramtona in early records of Cambridgeshire, dated 1080, and as Rantone in the Domesday Book and as Ramton in the 1198 'Pipe Rolls of Nottinghamshire'. Both places derive their first element from the Olde English pre 7th Century 'ramm', a ram, plus 'tun', a farm of settlement; hence, 'farm where rams were reared'. The surname is first recorded in the latter half of the 13th Century, (see below). On January 18th 1548 Margett Ramton and William Kettle were married in St. Mary le Bon, London, and on May 22nd 1614 Elizabeth Rampton, an infant was christened in St. Andrew's, Enfield London. On June 17th 1676 Elizabeth Rampton and Francis Hauxmore were married in Sturton cum Fenton, Nottinghamshire. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Simon de Rampton, which was dated 1273, 'the Hundred Rolls of Cambridgeshire', during the reign of King Edward I, 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.