SNEDDON
Sneddon is a family name of the British Isles, with pronounced Scottish roots, as first recorded in the parish registers of Lanarkshire and Yorkshire.
The surname is locational in origin. It is borne by those who inhabited the settlement of Sneddon near the Tyne, situated within the old county of Lanarkshire, Scotland. The place name is derived from two elements of Old English: snyt, meaning “quick” or “clever”, and dun, meaning “hill”. Accordingly, the name may be interpreted to signify a “dweller at the quick or clever hill”.
Alternative derivations from earlier form Snaw have been recorded, especially in northern England and north‑western Scotland. The element Snaw translates to “snow”, and when joined with dun it gives the sense of a hill or mountain where snow remains for long periods. Many place names in Yorkshire, such as Snowden and Snawdone, share this etymology.
In the Church Registers of Yorkshire, variant spellings are extensive: Snawdon, Snawden, Sneden, Snaden, Snadow, Snand and later forms such as Snadin, Snedden, Sneddon and Snadden appear. The earliest known document bearing the name is that of Alicia Snawdon who married Georgius Haggiston on 19 May 1544 in Wensley, Yorkshire, during the reign of King Henry V.
Historical records in the West Riding of Yorkshire and the bailliary of Lawderdaill record the name in the mid‑seventeenth century. On 16 May 1666, Mary, daughter of William Snaden, was christened in All Saints, Wakefield. In the Midlothian parish registers of the Scottish Lowlands, the name survived into the nineteenth century; for instance, the birth of William Snadden was registered on 13 January 1871 in West Calder, Midlothian.
Marriage records in London also attest to the presence of the surname: the union of Joseph Snedden and Mary Jones was solemnised on 27 March 1766 at St Martin-in-the-Fields, Westminster. These examples illustrate the geographical spread of the name from Scotland through northern England to the capital.
The Sneddon family, originally speaking Gaelic, adhered to Christian belief, and the broader cultural heritage of the name is Celtic. The surname persists in contemporary use, maintaining its historical roots within the British Isles.
Typical given names associated with the Sneddon surname
Male
- Alan
- Alexander
- Andrew
- David
- George
- James
- John
- Robert
- Thomas
- William
Female
- Catherine
- Elizabeth
- Fiona
- Helen
- Jane
- Jean
- Karen
- Margaret
- Mary
- Nicola
- Susan
- Yvonne
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 Sneddon in...
Braille
⠎⠝⠑⠙⠙⠕⠝
Morse
...-..-..-..----.
Semaphore
There are approximately 6,416 people named Sneddon in the UK. That makes it roughly the 1,476th most common surname in Britain. Around 99 in a million people in Britain are named Sneddon.
Origin: Celtic
Region of origin: British Isles
Country of origin: Scotland
Religion of origin: Christian
Language of origin: Gaelic
Famous people named Sneddon
- David Sneddon - Singer-songwriter
- Tom Sneddon - Scottish football player and coach (1912 to 1972)
- Davie Sneddon - Football player and manager
- George Sneddon - Scottish athlete
- Jamie Sneddon - Scottish football player
- Charlie Sneddon - Scottish football player (1930 to 1992)
- Ian Sneddon - Football player
- Tally Sneddon - Football player and manager (1914 to 1)
- Tom Sneddon, Tom Sneddon - Football player
- Alan Sneddon - Scottish football player
- Derek Sneddon - Scottish speedway rider
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.