Parton
A surname most often taken from a place name meaning “pear-tree farm” or “pear orchard.”
The #5,739 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 51,125 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The name is generally explained as coming from an English place called Parton, built from Old English pere or pere- meaning “pear” and tūn meaning “farm,” “settlement,” or “enclosure.” In other words, the original sense was something like “pear orchard” or “pear-tree farm.” Some historical works also link the surname to places in Cumberland and Kirkcudbrightshire, showing that it was adopted independently from more than one locality.
History
Historical surname dictionaries place Parton in the same family of English locational surnames as other names taken from villages and townships. The form is well established in northern Britain, especially in places named Parton in Cumberland and in Kirkcudbrightshire, and later appears as a hereditary surname in English and Scottish records. Because several places bear the name, modern bearers may descend from different local origins.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
The place-name element tūn is the source of modern English “town,” so Parton literally contains the old word for a farm or settlement.
From the historical record
“in a Sussex charter c. A.D. 791. PARTON (Eng.) Bel. to Parton, = the Pear- Orchard, or Pear-Tree Farm [O.E. pere -\- tun] PARTRICK (Teiut.) Glorious Ruler [O.Ger. Perhtric for Ber(a)htric — O.H.Ger. ber(a)ht = O.Sax. berht = O.E. beio)rkt =• Goth. ■ bairht-^s = O.N.biart-r, bright, glorious -f a der. qf TeMt.*rik-…”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)