17,558 Global REDDING Family Members

REDDING Family History

Recorded as Reading, Readings, Redding, Reddin, Reddings, Reddinges and others, this is an English surname. It is either topographical from residence in a clearing, from the pre 7th Century word ryding, or a locational name from the parish and town of Reading in Berkshire. This is recorded as Readingum in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle of 872 a.d. and as Reddinges in the famous Domesday Book of 1086. The town was named from the Readingas, a tribe who had auburn hair and a ruddy complexion, and were probably Anglo-Saxons. Topographical surnames provided obvious and convenient means of identification in the small communities of the Middle Ages, whilst locational names were chiefly given as a means of identification to those who left their birthplace to settle elsewhere...