Laughton Family History

English:: habitational name from Laughton en le Morthen in Yorkshire, Laughton in Leicestershire or Laughton in Lincolnshire (near Gainsborough). The places are named with Old English lēac ‘leek’ + tūn ‘enclosure’ meaning ‘village or farm where leeks are grown’. It may sometimes have alternated with Leighton which is mostly from placenames with the same etymology.

Occasionally, perhaps a habitational name from Loughton in Essex. The placename denoted ‘Luh(h)a's estate’ (Old English Luh(h)a + the connective infix -ing- + Old English tūn). English surnames from the placename usually occur as Loughton.

However, the placename is also recorded as Lufton in 1512 and Laughton in 1586, and it is these variants that gave rise to the forms of the surname that were taken to the US; see Loftin.

Additionally, it serves as a variant of Lawton.