Collington - Name

Recorded as Callington, Cellington, Collington with the most popular form being as Cullington, this is a surname of Cornish origins. It originates from the small town of Callington, just across the border from the neighbouring county of Devon. The surname is rarely, if ever, recorded in its home county, and certainly not before the year 1737, when an Andrew Cullington was recorded at Saltash. on April 3rd of that year. Locational surnames are usually 'from' names. That is to say names given to people after they left their original home to move somewhere else. The easiest way to identify such strangers being to call them by the name of the place from whence they came. However spelling being at best erratic and local dialects very thick, often lead to the development of 'sounds like' spellings. In this case the name is well recorded in the surviving church registers of the city of London, but almost always as Cullington. However the known first recording was as Callington, with John Callington marrying Susanne Taylor at St Martins in the Field, Westminster, on February 2nd 1676, and the second and subsequent recordings as Cullington or Collington, with John Cullington and his wife Alice being witnesses at St James Clerkenwell, on March 16th 1691.