Atherton Family History

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’.