DORRINGTON
Dorrington is an English surname of locational origin, first recorded as a hereditary name by those who migrated away from a village or settlement and wished to retain a connection to their native place.
Derivation of the name can be traced to the Old English elements dor, meaning “door” or “gateway”, and tun, meaning “settlement” or “enclosure”. Consequently the name originally referred to a person living in or associated with a settlement that possessed a notable door or gateway. The name was subsequently adapted into a family surname that has survived to the present day.
The earliest documented references to a place called Dorrington appear in the Domesday Book of 1086. In Lincolnshire the settlement is listed as “Derintone” while in Shropshire it is recorded as “Derintune”. Both placenames share a common etymology from the Old English pre‑seven‑century personal name Deor (meaning “dear” or “beloved”) combined with the suffix -ing (meaning “people of”) and tun (meaning “enclosure”). Thus the meaning can be rendered as “the settlement of Deor’s people”.
A further locality named Dorrington, situated near Condover in Shropshire, is documented in the Fees Court Rolls of 1198 under the appellation “Doolinton”. This form derives from the Old English personal name Dodda, a Germanic word meaning “rounded”, again with the suffix -ing and tun. The persistence of these names in official records demonstrates the pattern of placing a personal element before the generic term for a settlement to create a toponym.
With the growth of parish and civil administration, locational surnames increasingly served as a means of identifying individuals who had departed their birthplace. Church registers provide concrete illustrations: the christening of Edwarde Dorrington at Bourne in Lincolnshire on 26 October 1577, and the marriage of John Dorrington to Elisabeth Larkyne at St. Margaret’s, Westminster, London, on 23 July 1581. These entries are among the earliest surviving evidence of the name in use as a family identifier.
One of the earliest recorded spellings of the family name appears in a christening record dated 26 January 1559 for Robert Dorrington, baptised at Betley in Staffordshire during the reign of Queen Elizabeth the First, who is often referred to as “Good Queen Bess”. This particular entry marks the surname’s transition from a toponymic label to a hereditary identifier.
A coat of arms has been granted to a Dorrington family, described heraldically as a paly of six silver and green, on a red chief three bezants. The imagery reflects the family’s long-standing ties to landed communities and the significance of the settlement from which the name sprang.
Although uncommon, the Dorrington surname persists as a marker of lineage linked to specific English locales. Its historical documentation, ranging from the Domesday Book to parish registers, provides a clear line of continuity for those who bear the name today, underscoring its lasting cultural and genealogical importance.
Typical given names associated with the Dorrington surname
Male
- Andrew
- David
- James
- John
- Joseph
- Mark
- Michael
- Paul
- Peter
- Richard
- Robert
Female
- Anne
- Claire
- Jill
- Joan
- Julie
- Margaret
- Martine
- Mary
- Nicola
- Patricia
- Sandra
- Sarah
- Susan
- Victoria
Similar and related surnames
Related and similar names are generated algorithmically based on the spelling, and may not necessarily share an etymology.
How to communicate the surname Dorrington in...
Braille
⠙⠕⠗⠗⠊⠝⠛⠞⠕⠝
Morse
-..---.-..-...-.--.-----.
Semaphore
There are approximately 2,211 people named Dorrington in the UK. That makes it roughly the 3,878th most common surname in Britain. Around 34 in a million people in Britain are named Dorrington.
Surname type: Location or geographical feature
Origin: English
Region of origin: British Isles
Country of origin: England
Religion of origin: Christian
Language of origin: English
Famous people named Dorrington
- Julie Dorrington - Notable figure in the history of clinical photography (1940 to 2010)
- Albert Dorrington - Writer (1871 to 1953)
- Jamie Dorrington - Actor
Names and descriptions courtesy of Wikipedia, and may contain errors. This is not intended to be an exhaustive list of every famous person with this name.