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Names ending in -ington

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Will Overington

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Jun 25, 1992, 7:43:54 AM6/25/92
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25th June 1992

Names ending in -ington

I have noticed, over a period of years, that there are a great number
of names that end in -ington.

Some of these names occur as place names, others as surnames, some as
both of these.

I have never, however, been able to find out the origin of this suffix,
widespread though it is, finding that the books on surnames that I have
seen never cover it.

I often come across names of this kind that I have never seen
previously, for example, in cast lists of movies, captions on
news interviews and so on.

Most seem to be three syllables, such as Aldington, Ald-ing-ton
(here Ald is pronounced 'old'), with the stress on the first syllable,
with the -ington following separately; though this is not always the case,
for example, Bridlington is pronounced Brid-ling-ton, and, for example,
my own surname Overington, which is pronounced as four syllables, namely,
O-ver-ing-ton, with the stress on the O.

Any ideas?

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