Huntington
A habitational surname from several English places named Huntington, meaning a settlement associated with hunting.
The #4,831 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 42,259 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Huntington is a place-name surname from one or more English localities called Huntington. The name is generally understood as meaning “the settlement of Hunta’s people” or, more simply, “the hunting settlement,” from Old English elements related to hunting and a fortified or inhabited place. Historical surname dictionaries also note that some families may have taken the name from different places with the same spelling, so the surname can have more than one local source.
History
Nineteenth-century surname writers place Huntington in several English counties, including Hereford, Cheshire, Stafford, and York. They also note that Huntington and Huntingdon were sometimes confused or mixed in records, which can make family lines hard to separate. The name was carried to North America and is now best known there as an established English-derived surname.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
The 1860 dictionary entry says the preacher William Huntington was born Hunt and later adopted the fuller surname Huntington.
From the historical record
“Huntingdonshire. HUNTINGTON. Parishes and places in cos. Hereford, Cheshire, Stafford, and York. The late William Huntington (who "wore a collar of SS of his owu fabrication, See Punch, Sept. 17, 1859.,) was Hnnt, by birth, and adopted the final and penult syllables on arriving at manhood. HUNTLEY. A parish in co.…”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United KingdomNotable people named Huntington
- Samuel P. Huntington (1927–2008)
Sourced from Wikidata; linked to their Wikipedia page.