Can anyone give me ANY info on the last name Saxon??

Question

please nothing to do with anglo-saxon.. or saxon math..

also do you know if the geniology sites that you have to pay for are worthwhile, they look as if they may be a scam... saying that they have your family crest, obits, and family tree??

Answer 1

saxon Name Meaning and History

1) variant of Saxton.

2) from the medieval personal name Saxon, originally an ethnic byname for someone from Saxony.

And

Saxton:

1) habitational name from a place in West Yorkshire, possibly also one in Cambridgeshire, both so named from Old English Seaxe ‘Saxons’ + tun ‘enclosure’, ‘settlement’.

2) variant of Sexton 1.

Dictionary of American Family Names, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-508137-4

via:

http://www.ancestry.com/learn/facts/defa...

I think Ancestry is worth is, but I spend a couple of hours a day doing genealogy. If you are just a dabbler, stick with the free sites.

There is no such thing as a family crest.  Crests are part of a coat of arms. C of A, in turn, were given to individuals, not families. Any fee site that offers to sell you a "family" crest is a scam.

http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/...

is free. Your family tree may be there, if your great-aunt did it and posted it. Look for someone born before 1900, not yourself.

Answer 2

You are totally correct that sites that offer family crests are a scam.  Ancestry.com is a fee based site.. it is not a scam. It has a combination of many valid records, and user submitted genealogy information.  What is user submitted, is ONLY as good as the person doing the research.  You won't recognize the bad stuff from the good, unless you have a bit of background as to what you are looking for.

Ted's source for the background on the NAME will be valid.. he does not waste time with scam sites. The only issue is if you are confused, as to the meaning of a name, compared to your own actual ancestry. THOSE ARE NOT THE SAME.

Your ancestry works back from you, including your parents, then grandparents, etc.  The entire research process is based in finding known legitimate records. Your birth certificate is an example.

Genealogy is tracing your ancestry (and it will not all be Saxon..it includes ALL your ancestors).  Surname etymology is the tracing of a word, which happens to be a name. It will have little to do with your actual, personal history.  One is not better/ worse than the other... it is just up to you to understand which one it is that you want.

If you click on 'resolved' questions... probably 50% of those will be how to find your ancestry.

Answer 3

Sorry, no.

Answer 4

I found this for you, on this site, http://www.surnamedb.com/

Surname: Saxon

This very interesting name recorded as Saxton, Sexton, Sexen,and Saxon, is generally English, but sometimes is Irish. It has at least three possible origins. The first and most likely is locational from one of the villages called Saxton, found in Yorkshire, Cambridge, and Surrey. Saxton in the West Riding of Yorkshire was the site of the battle of Towton, during the famous Wars of the Roses from 1422 to 1485. In all cases the village name and hence the surname translates as "the settlement (tun) of the Saxons". An example from this source of the early recordings is that of Johannes de Saxton, in the 1379 Poll Tax rolls for the city of York. The second possibility is that for some nameholders at least, their ancestors held the position of sexton or church warden. This derives from the Middle English "sexteyn", a derivative of the Old French "secrestein", introduced by the Normas after the 1066 invasion. An early recording from that source is that of William Sextain, in the Subsidy Rolls for the county of Sussex in 1327. The third possible origin is the anglicized form of the Gaelic Irish "O'Seastnain", meaning the "descendant of Seastnan", a personal name meaning "bodyguard" from "seasuighim", to defend. In the spelling of Sexton the name is mainly found in Limerick city where no less than eight Sextons have been mayors, although several were of English protestant origin. The first recording of the surname is shown to be that of Tomas Sekerstein, which was dated 1203, in the "Pipe Rolls of Yorkshire", during the reign of King John, known as "Lackland", 1199 - 1216. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.

Hope this helps.