Deaton
A surname most likely from an English place-name, originally meaning someone from or near a town called Denton or Deaton.
The #2,572 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 21,972 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Deaton is most plausibly a locational surname, linked to an English place-name such as Denton. The place-name is usually explained from Old English elements meaning “valley” and “farmstead” or “settlement,” so the surname would originally have identified someone who came from that place. Historical spellings could vary a lot, and Deaton may reflect local pronunciation or spelling drift from Denton-type forms.
History
The excerpted Bardsley material suggests an early form such as "de Deaton" in 14th-century records, which fits the normal medieval pattern of surnames formed from place of origin. Over time, such names often lost the preposition "de" and settled into hereditary surnames. In the United States, Deaton is established but not especially common, with several independent family lines likely arriving through British immigration.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Medieval surname forms often preserved a person’s origin more than a fixed spelling, so one family’s Deaton could be another record-writer’s Denton.
From the historical record
“MaiUda de Denton, 1379 Alan de Deaton, co. \A\ Kdw.1. K. Nigel ■ - i. MaitJed- Williaoi Ba«”
— A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames, with special American instancesNotable people named Deaton
- Angus Deaton (b. 1945)
Sourced from Wikidata; linked to their Wikipedia page.