The surname of ALTON was a habitation name from any of various places so called. Those in Hampshire, Dorset and Wiltshire are at the sources of the rivers Wey, Piddle and Avon, and originally derived their name from the Old English AEWILL, meaning 'the dweller by the spring enclosure settlement'. There are also places of the name in Derbyshire, and Leicester. The name is also spelt ALTEN. The earliest of the name on record appears to be one EANULFINTIN who was documented in Worcestershire in 1023. Before the 1066 Conquest names were rare in England, the few examples found were mainly adopted by those of the clergy or one who had taken holy orders. In 1086 the conquering Duke William of Normandy commanded the Domesday Book. He wanted to know what he had and who held it, and the Book describes Old English society under its new management in minute detail. It was then that surnames began to be taken for the purposes of tax-assessment. The nobles and the upper classes were first to realise the prestige of a second name, but it was not until the 15th century that most people had acquired a second name. A notable member of the name was Karl August Graf von ALTEN (l764-l840) a Hanoverian General and statesman. He came to England in l803, entered the German Legion of the British Army, and fought under Wellington through the Peninsular War, and commanded at Quatre-Bras and Waterloo. After his return to Hanover he became Minister of War in l832 and Foreign Affairs in l833. In the Middle Ages heraldry came into use as a practical matter. It originated in the devices used to distinguish the armoured warriors in tournament and war, and was also placed on seals as marks of identity. As far as records show, true heraldry began in the middle of the 12th century, and appeared almost simultaneously in several countries of Western Europe. |
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