Leighton
A surname from several English place-names called Leighton, meaning a settlement by a leek garden or a clearing.
The #4,222 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 36,760 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Leighton is a locational surname taken from one or more English places named Leighton. The place-name is usually explained from Old English elements such as leac, meaning "leek," plus tun, meaning "farmstead" or "settlement," though in some cases a different local origin may be involved. In practice, the surname most often means simply "from Leighton."
History
The name is well established in medieval English records and appears in several counties, including Shropshire, Bedfordshire, and Huntingdonshire. One old family tradition linked the Leightons of Shropshire to a Domesday tenant named Reginald, but that specific lineage claim should be treated cautiously. The surname later spread widely through England and, with emigration, to North America and elsewhere.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Because there are multiple English places called Leighton, different families with the same surname may not share a single ancestor.
From the historical record
“township in the pariah of Btapham, CO. Lane. Doubtless many small spots are so colled ; cf. Leighton. Richard de Layuti, co. Cunb., aa Edw. I. R. ■* ' i<iSi. ThamaiLaitoiK.co.YDrk: Reg.”
— A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames, with special American instances