Carton Family History

French (northern) and Walloon; Flemish and Dutch (of French origin): occupational name for a carter derived from a Picard form of Old French charreton ‘carter’ hence a variant of French Charton. French: from Old French carton a measure of cereals; hence a metonymic occupational name for a grain merchant.

Spanish (Cartón): perhaps a nickname from cartón ‘cardboard’ of uncertain motivation. Irish (Wexford Derry Dublin): shortened form of McCartan.

English: habitational name from Corton in Suffolk (early recorded as Karetun denoting ‘Kari's village or estate’) but the earliest examples of the surname appear in Lincolnshire. A family from Corton could have migrated to Holbeach (Lincolnshire) by the 13th century retaining the former pronunciation of the placename.

Alternatively, Carton could have named a lost place in Lincolnshire or else it was an alternative name for Careby (Lincolnshire) north of Stamford, but there is no record of this. It is not certain that this surname has survived to the present time.