Barrington
A locational surname meaning “from Barrington,” a place name found in several English counties.
The #6,928 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 63,751 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Barrington is a habitational surname, originally given to someone who came from one of the English places called Barrington. The place-name is generally taken to be from an Old English personal name plus "tūn" meaning an estate, farmstead, or settlement, though some early surname writers also linked it with the Norman-French form Barenton/Barentin. In practice, the surname was normalized into the English place-name form Barrington over time.
History
Early surname dictionaries record Barrington as a local surname and note its presence in several English counties, especially Cambridgeshire, Berkshire, Somerset, and Gloucestershire. Historical spellings such as Barenton, Barentyn, and Barentine were later anglicized to Barrington. The surname also appears in Irish records, but that is more likely due to English settlement and later migration than to an independent Irish origin.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Several English parishes share the name Barrington, which is why the surname could arise independently in more than one place.
From the historical record
“Beringer' ; v. Berringer. Barrington.— Local, 'of Bar^ rington,' parishes in cos. Cam- bridge, Berks, Somerset, and Gloucester. Warin de Barenton, ca Camb.. 1 27^. A.”
— A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames (alternate scan)