Easton Family History

English and Scottish: habitational name from any of the many places in England called Easton ‘the eastern village estate or manor’ (Berkshire, Cumberland, East Yorkshire, Hampshire, Huntingdonshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Norfolk, Suffolk, Somerset, Wiltshire) as well as from Easton (Peeblesshire) or Easton near Bathgate (West Lothian) in Scotland. The name may also arise from any of the places called Easton which have different etymologies in Devon, Essex, and Northamptonshire.

Easton in Devon gets its first element from the genitive case of the Old English personal name Ælfrīc (Old English ælf ‘elf’ + rīc ‘power’) or Athelrīc (Old English athel ‘noble’ + rīc ‘power’). Easton Neston in Northamptonshire arises from Old English Ēadstānestūn ‘settlement of Ēadstān’, a personal name composed of the elements ēad ‘prosperity, riches’ + stān ‘stone’.

Great and Little Easton in Essex are from the Old English personal name Æga + stān(as) ‘stone(s)’. English and Scottish: topographic name from Middle English (bi) este(n) tune (Old English be ēastan tūne) denoting someone who lived at the east end of a village or from Middle English atte(n) este(n) tune ‘at (the place to) the east of the village’, a type of formation particular to Sussex.

Compare Weston, Sutton, and Outen. English: from the Middle English personal name Estan (Old English Ēadstān from ēad ‘prosperity’ + stān ‘stone’).