Atherton Family History
Atherton Name Meaning
English: habitational name from a place near Manchester named Atherton from the Old English personal name Æthelhere + Old English tūn ‘settlement’. English: habitational name from Hatherton Staffordshire from Old English haguthorn + dūn ‘the hill where hawthorn grows’. English (East Anglia): topographic name from Middle English at ther doune ‘(dweller) on the hill’ (Old English æt thǣre dūne). Through confusion of -don and -ton Attherdoune was altered to Atherton Adderton and Atterton. English: variant of Atterton a habitational name from Atterton in Witherley Leicestershire possibly derived from the Old English personal name Æthelred or Ēadred + tūn ‘farmstead’.
Source: Dictionary of American Family Names 2nd edition, 2022
