GADSDEN Family History

This name is of English locational origin from Great or Little Gaddesden in Hertfordshire. Recorded as Gaetesdene in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, dated 944 and as Magna (Great) and Parva (Little) Gatesden in the 1254 Pipe Rolls of that county, the name derives from the Olde English pre 7th Century personal\nickname "Gaete" from "Gat", a goat, plus "denu" or "dene" a valley. The surname is first recorded in the latter half of the 13th Century, (see below). One, Richard de Gatisdene and a John de Gattsdene appear on record in Buckinghamshire and Norfolk in 1273 and 1275 respectively.