Farrington
An English habitational surname, most often meaning someone from Farrington in Lancashire or from a place with a similar name.
The #3,844 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 33,519 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Farrington is a habitational surname from places called Farrington, especially Farrington in Lancashire; older writers also connected some bearers with Farringdon or other similar place-names. The place-name is generally taken to mean something like "Fern-tun" or "farm/settlement by the fern," from Old English elements referring to fern and a settlement or enclosure. Because similar place-names developed in more than one county, the surname can have more than one local origin.
History
The name appears in medieval and later records in several English counties, and nineteenth-century surname scholars noted that not every Farrington family necessarily came from the same place. It is especially associated with Lancashire in Bardsley’s account, though other local roots were also suggested by later compilers. The surname is now found in Britain, North America, and Ireland, where it may sometimes reflect migration from England.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Older surname dictionaries sometimes grouped Farrington with Farringdon and other similar names because the spelling was so easily shifted by scribes and record-keepers.
From the historical record
“Farrington.— Local, 'of Far- rington,' a township in the parish of Penwortham, CO. Lancaster. No doubt in many cases a variant of Farringdon, but the Lancashire FarringtonB are derived as stated”
— A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames, with special American instances