Liston
Usually a surname from a place-name, especially the parish of Liston in Essex.
The #6,877 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 63,164 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Liston is generally explained as a habitational surname, taken from the parish of Liston in Essex. The place-name is usually connected with Old English elements meaning roughly “List’s farm/settlement,” though the first element is not certain and may reflect an early personal name. The surname therefore originally identified someone who came from that place.
History
Medieval records already show people styled "de Liston" in Essex and nearby counties, which fits the normal English habitational pattern. The name later spread beyond its original locality and is now found in England, Scotland, Ireland, and the English-speaking world. A Scottish place-name, Listen Shiels, is also sometimes listed alongside Liston in older surname dictionaries, but Essex is the main source.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Older surname dictionaries often grouped Liston with other place-based names ending in -ton, treating it as a classic local surname.
From the historical record
“of Bollaud. LISTON. A parish in Essex, and Listen Shiels, a district in Edmburghshire. LIT. See Lite. LITCHFIELD. The city in co. Stafford, more properly written Lichfield. LITE. See Lyte. LITHERLAND. A township of Sefton, CO. Lancashire.”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom