Colston
A habitational surname most likely meaning “from Colston,” especially the Nottinghamshire place, though some bearers may derive from Coulston in Wiltshire.
The #7,617 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 70,765 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Colston is an English habitational surname. 19th-century surname scholars connected it chiefly with a parish in Nottinghamshire, with some attention also given to Coulston in Wiltshire as a possible source for certain families. The place-name itself is old and likely contains an early personal name or descriptive element combined with an Old English settlement ending, but the exact place-name origin is not spelled out securely in the excerpts.
History
The name is recorded in medieval form and appears to have remained in use without major changes. Bardsley notes that it spread early into Yorkshire and that the surname still turns up in parts of the Midlands and West Country. A famous bearer was Edward Colston (1636–1721), the Bristol merchant and philanthropist.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Nineteenth-century writers even used Colston as an example of an odd spelling or misreading in surname lists, alongside forms like Coltson and Colson.
From the historical record
“mon family name. COLSTON. A parish in co. Notts. COLT. Ferguson thinks this a cor- ruption of tlje name Gold ; but it appears in the XIII. cent, in its present form, and I see no reason why it should not be de- rived from the animal, especially as Le Colt is found in H.R. Tlie Colts of co. Lanark derive from Blaise…”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom