This surname of AXON is of the baptismal group of surnames meaning 'the son of Axsone' an ancient, although now forgotten personal name. The name is familiar to Lancashire and Cheshire, and is also spelt as Axton and Axten. There is also a place called Axton in County Kent, in the south of England, from where the original bearer may have taken his name. The names of habitation, which are the largest group, usually denoted where the original bearer of the name held and perhaps owned his land. These local surnames derive (with a few occasional exceptions) from English, Scottish or French places, and were originally preceded by a preposition such as 'atte' or 'bye'. The earliest local surnames of French origin are chiefly from Normandy, particularly from the departments of Calvados, Eure, Seine-Inferieure and La Manche, although some Frenchmen, arriving in England early acquired surnames from English places. Local names may derive from the manor held, the place of residence, and occasionally from a sign like an Inn or Tavern, or a particularly unusual shape of rock, hill, tree, stream or river. The earliest of the name on record appears to be Thomas Acson of Knottysforth in Cheshire, who was listed in the Wills at Chester in 1545. Lawrence Axson and Margaret Tipper were married at St. Peter's, Cornhill, London in 1557. John Acson of Leftwick in Cheshire, appears in the same Wills in 1585, and John Ackson (Yeoman) was recorded in 1621. In 1581, Ellen Ackeson was baptised at Prestbury Church, County Chester. William Acson of Cheshire, registered at Oxford University in the year 1602. Ralph Houghton and Anna Axon were married at Prestbury Church, County Chester in 1616. Charles, son of John Axton was baptised at St. James's, Clerkenwell, London in 1642. Most of the European surnames in countries such as England, Scotland and France were formed in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. The process had started somewhat earlier and had continued in some places into the 19th century, but the norm is that in the tenth and eleventh centuries people did not have surnames, whereas by the fifteenth century most of the population had acquired a second name.