Charleston
A surname that likely began as a place-name label for someone from Charleston, especially the English town or the American city.
The #9,695 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 92,273 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Charleston is best understood as a locational surname, originally meaning “of Charleston” or “from Charleston.” The place-name itself is built on the personal name Charles plus the place-suffix -ton, meaning “town” or “settlement,” so the deeper sense is “Charles’s town.” In surname use, it would have been applied to someone who came from a place called Charleston rather than describing a job or personal trait.
History
The surname is uncommon and most likely arose independently in more than one place, since Charleston is a place-name in England and also became famous in South Carolina. In English-speaking records, it may have been adopted by families moving away from such a place and used as an identifying surname. The form can also be influenced by spelling patterns in America, where place-based surnames were often stabilized in the 18th and 19th centuries.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Charleston is one of those surnames that looks uniquely American to many people, but it is built from a very old English naming pattern.
From the historical record
“of New York. The family originated in a foreigner named John Francisco, who, for brevity, voluntarily changed his signature to John F. Cisco. A German named Rlibsum, who emigrated to Charleston, B.C., became by translation Mr. Turnipseed. The Blague family of this country became Blake ; Everedd was altered to Webb…”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom