Ashen Family History

From one or more of the places named in Middle English as (atten) asshen ‘(at the) ash-trees’ such as Ashen (Essex), which is recorded as Asce in 1086 and Asshen in 1344, and Ashton near Roade (Northants), recorded as Asce in 1086 and Asshene in 132. A name of this type might lose the plural ending -en and become identical with Ash.

There is, in any case, a great deal of variation between singular and plural forms in the medieval record of both the Essex and Northants place-names.