Survey of English Place-Names

Historical Forms

• Findre 1086 DB

• Findern(e), Fyndern(e) c.1100,1114 BurtCh 1177–82 Burton 1185 BurtCh 1188–97 StoweCh 1204 Cur 1204 FF

• Finder(') 1183 P 1219 Cur

• Findena (sic) 1188 P

• Fyndren 1330 Ass

• Fyndryn 1332 Middleton

• Fenderne 1420 Cl

Etymology

This is a difficult name for which Ekwall (DEPN) suggests 'house for wood', v. fīn , ærn . He thinks that the second element is OE  renn , an early side-form of ærn , though most spellings in fact point to ærn itself. It is more likely that if the first element is fīn in this p.n. its meaning is rather 'wood-pile shed'. Even so this does not take into consideration medial -d -, present in all forms noted.Ekwall compares with Dinder (So), but there the d is not found in the early forms and so the comparison is not exact. It would hardly seem fruitful to continue along these lines. No plausible solution can be offered and the name must be left an unsolved problem.