This surname AQUINO was a Norman habitation name from Laigle in Orne, Normandy, whose name apparently means 'the eagle', although the reasons for this are not clear. The recorded forms may represent the result of the operation of early folk etymology on some unknown original. Matilda de Aquila is recorded in 1129 as the widow of Robert Mowbray, Earl of Northumberland. Habitation names were originally acquired by the original bearer of the name, who, having lived by, at or near a place, would then take that name as a form of identification for himself and his family. When people lived close to the soil as they did in the Middle Ages, they were acutely conscious of every local variation in landscape and countryside. Every field or plot of land was identified in normal conversation by a descriptive term. If a man lived on or near a hill or mountain, or by a river or stream, forests and trees, he might receive the word as a family name. Almost every town, city or village early times, has served to name many families. A noteworthy person of the name is Maria Corazon AQUINO born in l933. She is the Filipino politician, the daughter of a wealthy sugar baron in Tarlac Province. She gained a degree in mathematics in New York before marrying Benigmo S. AQUINO in l956 who became the chief political opponent to Marcos. A devout Maryist Roman Catholic, she enjoyed strong Church backing in her l986 campaign. 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. The lion depicted in the arms is the noblest of all wild beasts which is made to be the emblem of strength and valour, and is on that account the most frequently borne in Coat-Armour.