POLLINGTON
Pollington is a surname of English origin, classified as a locational name that derives from a place in Yorkshire. The place name Pollington is first recorded in the Yorkshire Charters of 1160 as Pollingtonia and again in 1197 as Poulinton. The name is composed of the Old English element pol, meaning pool or pond, and the element tun, meaning enclosure or settlement. Therefore the surname originally signified a person who hailed from or lived at a settlement by a pool.
Alternate scholarly explanations include that the first element may have been the pre‑7th century word pofl or pofel, meaning a piece of low‑lying land. In this view the surname would denote someone from a low settlement near water. Neither explanation is certain; both are based on linguistic reconstruction of Old English forms.
One hypothesis, based on other English surnames, is that Pollington might derive from the Old English personal name Pola plus ing, meaning people of, with a further link to pul meaning pool or puddle. This would paint the name as an identification of people from a particular area near a pool. However, no contemporary source gives a definitive explanation, and the name is principally recognised as locational.
The earliest recorded use of the name is in 1219, when a person identified as Robert de Pollington appears in the English Hundred Rolls for Lincolnshire. This confirms that the surname was established in Northern England by the early 13th century. Subsequent documentary evidence includes the last will and testament of Isabell Pollington dated November 1460 at Pollington, Yorkshire, during the reign of King Henry V. The name also appears in parish records of marriages: Margaret Pollington married Robert Bishoppe in October 1609 at Lamberhurst, Kent, and Anne Pollington married John Rayner in London in 1618.
Throughout the 19th century, the 1881 Census recorded many individuals with the surname throughout England, particularly in the industrial Midlands where migration to factories was high. In the 21st century, the surname remains chiefly in the Yorkshire region. Concentrations are found in the large towns and cities such as Sheffield, Leeds and York, as well as in the rural areas of Doncaster and Barnsley. The name also occurs in the English Midlands and London, though it remains relatively rare.
According to the Office for National Statistics in 2015, only twelve people in the United Kingdom carried the surname Pollington. The highest concentration is in the town of Pollington itself, located in the East Riding of Yorkshire. The surname is a recognised, though uncommon, family name with a clear geographical and historical provenance.
Variant spellings recorded in historic documents include Pallington, Pollyngton, Pollingtun, Polliington, and Pollinyon. A Dutch variant, Vollenbagh, also appears to have the same source. While some scholars suggest possible links to surnames such as Hollington or Pullington, no definitive connection has been established. The name Pollington therefore remains firmly identified with its Yorkshire roots and its linguistic composition of pool plus settlement.
Typical given names associated with the Pollington surname
Male
- Adam
- Andrew
- Christopher
- David
- Guy
- John
- Mark
- Michael
- Neil
- Raymond
- Robert
- Stephen
Female
- Elizabeth
- Helen
- Karen
- Lesley
- Lisa
- Michelle
- Patricia
- Rebecca
- Sarah
- Susan
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 Pollington in...
Braille
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Morse
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Semaphore
There are approximately 755 people named Pollington in the UK. That makes it roughly the 9,168th most common surname in Britain. Around 12 in a million people in Britain are named Pollington.
