The surname of ADINGTON was a locational name 'of Addington' places in Buckinghamshire, Surrey and Northumberland. Local names usually denoted where a man held his land, and indicated where he actually lived. Early records of the name mention William de Adinton, 1176, County Berkshire. Hugh de Adinton was documented in Northumberland in the year 1201. Gilbert de Adintun was recorded in County Surrey in the year 1226.
Later records mention Henry Addington Sidmouth, Ist Viscount (1757-1844). He was an English statesman and from 1801-04 he was briefly Tory Prime minister, educated at Winchester and Brasenose College, Oxford. Being Henry Addington he was made Viscount Sidmouth in 1805. He was responsible for suspending the Habeas Corpus Act. Local surnames, by far the largest group, derived from a place name where the man held land or from the place from which he had come, or where he actually lived. These local surnames were originally preceded by a preposition such as "de", "atte", "by" or "in". The names may derive from a manor held, from working in a religious dwelling or from literally living by a wood or marsh or by a stream.
Between the 11th and 15th centuries it became customary for surnames to be assumed in Europe, but they were not commonplace in England or Scotland before the Norman Conquest of 1066. They are to be found in the Domesday Book of 1086. Those of gentler blood assumed surnames at this time, but it was not until the reign of Edward II (1327-1377) that it became common practice for all people.
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