Radnedge - Name

Recorded in several spelling forms including Radage, Radnage, Radnedge, and probably overlapping with the surnames Raddish, Reddish and Redditch, this is an English surname. It is locational from either Radnedge, a village in the county of Buckinghamshire, although there are no early recodings from this county, or possibly for some nameholders from Reddish in Lancashire, or Redditch in Worcestershire. Radnage is first recorded as Radenheech in the year 1161, and is believed to mean the red oak, whilst Reddish is first recorded as Rediche in the Red Book of the Exchequer for the year 1212. The derivation is from the Old English pre 7th Century 'hreod', meaning reeds, and 'dic', a ditch or a dyke, whereas Redditch, first recorded as 'Rubeo Fossato' circa 1200 in Thomas Madox's English Formula, may mean literally a red ditch. The following examples show some of the surname development over the centuries: Henri Rediche of Lancashire in the will register of 1573, whilst Charlotte Radnege married George Walter at St Pancras Old Church, in the city of London, on July 19th 1846. 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.