Norton (surname)

Norton is a surname with origin from the Old English norþ + tun, meaning North settlement (cf., Weston, Sutton, and Easton for other surnames derived from points of the compass).

When surnames started to be used in England during the Middle Ages, a man from such a village might have the name added e.g. Tom of Norton.

The famous Emperor Norton in San Francisco was of Jewish origin from a South African settler family.

Other concentrations include North Lanarkshire, (28th, 1,773), Hereford and Worcester, (50th, 1,733), Gloucestershire, (145th, 1,827), Devon (159th, 1,791), West Yorkshire, (235th, 1,755), Cheshire, (235th, 1,731), and Essex, (377th, 1,719).

The Nortons of Athlone are descended from Feradach Ó Neachtain who died in 1790.