Survey of English Place-Names

Historical Forms

• Chedinton(') 1194,1195,1204–14 P 1204 P 1324 Drew

• Chedington' 1230 P

• Chedyngton 1316 Drew 1337 FF 1486 Ipm

• Cedinton 1269 Ch 1280 Ass

• Cedington(') 1288 1314 Drew 1315 Salis

• Cedynton 1298 Fine

• Cedyngton 1313 Drew

• Cheddington 1811 OS

• Cedindun' 1226 Cur

• Cedindon(') 1244 Ass m13 Salis 1259 AddCh 1268 Ass 1285 FA 1288 Ass 1356 Weld2

• Cedingdon' 1268 Ass

• Cedyndon' 1288 ib

• Cedyngdon' 1332 SR

• Cedendon' 1356 Weld2

• Chedindon 1266 Ch 1302 Orig

• Chedyndon 1280 FF 1304 Orig 1326 Drew 1357 Pat

• Chedyngdon 1340 NI 1386 Cl 1397 FF

• Chedyngdoun 1407 Cl

• Chidinton' 1230 ChancR

• Chiddyngton 1431 FA

• Cetendon', Cetindon' 1244 Ass

• Cethindon' 1268 ib

• Codyngton 1316 FA

• Codyngdon ib (p)

Etymology

This is a difficult name. There is much early alternation of the second el. between tūn 'farmstead, estate' and dūn 'hill', although the earliest forms from P suggest the former. Probably therefore 'farmstead or estate called after Cedd or Cedda', from the OE  pers.n. Cedd or Cedda and -ingtūn .

However, in view of the frequency and persistency of -dun , -don spellings in the 13th and 14th cent. material, it would seem that dūn was a genuine early substitution for, or alternative to, tūn , no doubt with reference to the 800′ ridge rising to the SE of the village. Fägersten 269, assuming that the original second el. was dūn , proposes as first el. OE  cēod(e) 'a bag' in some transferred topographical sense such as 'a hollow' (cf. also Fellows Jensen, Sydsvenska Ortnamnssällskapets Årsskrift (1974) p. 36 and VEPN 3 17), but it is not really evident to what feature the term might have referred.