Layton
A habitational surname meaning “from Layton,” from several English places with names built from Old English elements for a settlement or enclosure.
The #1,836 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 15,830 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Layton is a surname taken from one of several English places called Layton. The place-name is generally explained from Old English leah, meaning a clearing or meadow, plus tun, meaning an enclosure, farm, or settlement. In effect, it means something like “settlement by the clearing,” though different Layton places may have had slightly different local histories.
History
The name appears in records as a local surname, especially in northern and eastern England, with Laytons in Yorkshire and Lancashire specifically mentioned in older surname dictionaries. Because more than one village or township was called Layton, the surname could arise independently in different families. It later spread to London and overseas, including North America.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Older surname books often grouped Layton with other English place-names ending in -ton, since many of them mean roughly “farm” or “settlement.”
From the historical record
“-d Hople, of Great Layton, 'jaoiaHo ; beater (i/jI”
— A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames, with special American instances