Alston Family History

English and Scottish:: from the Middle English personal name Alstan which is a coalescence of several different Old English personal names: Æthelstān ‘noble stone’ Ælfstān ‘elf stone’ Ealdstān ‘old stone’ or Ealhstān ‘temple stone’.

Habitational name from any of various places called Alston (in Cumbria, Lancashire, Devon and Somerset) or Alstone (in Gloucestershire and Staffordshire).

With the exception of Alston in Cumbria, which is formed with the Old Norse personal name Halfdan, these placenames all consist of an Old English personal name + Old English tūn ‘settlement’.

For example, Ælfsige in the case of Alstone in Gloucestershire.