An English surname and place name, referring to various towns and villages, most commonly meaning a settlement or enclosure associated with penny payment or a hill settlement.
From Old English 'penning' meaning enclosure or settlement, plus 'tun' meaning town or estate. Some variations derive from 'penn' meaning hill. The name appears in Domesday Book records from 1086, indicating Anglo-Saxon origins.
This name captures medieval England's transition from barter to money economy - 'penning' settlements were often places where monetary rents replaced feudal service obligations. The survival of 'penny' in the place name preserves evidence of this economic revolution from over 900 years ago.
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