English Place-name Society

Survey of English Place-Names

A county-by-county guide to the linguistic origins of England’s place-names – a project of the English Place-Name Society, founded 1923.

Stildon Manor

Early-attested site in the Parish of Rock

Historical Forms

  • Stilladun c.957 BCS1007 11th
  • Stilledune 1086 DB
  • Stillindon 1275 SR
  • Stildon 1332 SR 1631 QSR

Etymology

This is a difficult name and we can only explain it if we assume that Stilladun is a late OE  form for Stillandūn , which would explain the later Stillindon . A pers. name Stilla is not found in OE but it would be a regular cognate to the names containing OGer  *stilja quoted by Förstemann (PN 1364), of which we have a derivative in the well-known Vandal name Stil (l )ico . The name must originally have been a nickname denoting the still or quiet one, cf. the OGer  names Stilla , Stillina used of women.Hence 'Stilla's hill' (v. dun ).