Alston
A place-based surname meaning “from Alston,” found in several English place-names.
The #1,148 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 10,059 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Alston is a locational surname taken from one or more English places called Alston. The name is usually explained from Old English personal-name elements such as Ealhstan/Alstan, though some older writers also associated it with Scandinavian forms like Hallstein. In practice, the surname most straightforwardly means someone who came from an Alston place-name, especially the parish in Cumberland/Cumbria.
History
The surname appears in medieval and later records as a habitational name from places in Cumberland, Lancashire, and other counties. Because there were several similarly named places, independent origins are possible in different families. The name later spread widely in England and then to North America through migration.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Beer-Alston in Devon is one of the place-names that helped preserve this surname form in historical records.
From the historical record
“ALSTON. Places in cos. Lancaster, "Worcester, &c. ALTARIPA DE. See Hawtrey and Deal try. ALTER IPE. See Altaripa de. ALTHORPE. Places In cos. Northampt., Lincoln, and Norfolk. ALTON. A town in Hampshire, and”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom