Huston
A surname that is usually a spelling of Houston, often tied to a place-name meaning “Hugh’s town” or “house farm.”
The #2,218 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 18,786 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Huston is generally treated as a variant spelling of Houston. In the British Isles, Houston can come from a place-name built from a personal name such as Hugh plus an element meaning “settlement” or “town,” so the sense is roughly “Hugh’s town.” In some cases, especially in Ireland, the name may instead reflect an Anglicized local form associated with the Houston/Huston family name rather than a direct place of origin.
History
19th-century surname writers often grouped Huston with Houston and other similar spellings, and in American records the two names have frequently overlapped. The form Huston is well established in the United States, where it has persisted alongside Houston as a separate spelling tradition. In Scotland and Ireland, it is usually discussed as a local or family-name variant rather than an entirely separate surname.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Older surname books often treated Huston as a straightforward spelling shift from Houston, which is why the two names are still sometimes linked in genealogical indexes.
From the historical record
“Kumet: HiiBSon. — Local, 'of Huston,' parishes in cos. York and Leicester. I can scarcely hesitate to accept this solution. The corruption was, it seems to me, inevitable. But v.”
— A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames, with special American instancesNotable people named Huston
- John Huston (1906–1987)
- Anjelica Huston (b. 1951)
- Walter Huston (1883–1950)
Sourced from Wikidata; linked to their Wikipedia page.