This surname is derived from a geographical locality. 'of Sladen,' a hamlet in the parish of Littleborough, Lancashire Probably other small spots are so termed (v. Slade and Dean).

Johannes Sladen, 1379: Poll Tax of Yorkshire.

Jennet Hill, of Sladen, widow, 1599: Wills at Chester.

1767. Baptised — Isaac, s. Isaac Sladden: Canterbury Cath.

1806. Married — Benjamin King and Mary Sladen: St. George, Hanover Square.

This family, seated on the coast of Kent in the early part of the XVII. century, and hardly found elsewhere until within the XIX., are presumed to have come from the town of Schleiden in the government of Aix-la-Chapelle in Rhenish Prussia. John Sleidan, the historian of the Reformation in Germany, a native of that town, was deputed to the English court by the German reformers in 1545, and it is probable that others of his name and religion afterwards sought a home in this country. Sladden, Sladdon, and Slodden, may he variations of the name; and this seems the more probable, inasmuch as the continental town is pronounced as if written with two d's. There seems, however, to be no recognized kindred between the Sladens and the Sladdens. The name of Schleiden is still well known in Germany. A Thos de Slayden was mayor of Winchester in 1222. Milner.