Paxton
A locational surname from places called Paxton in England and Scotland, meaning “Pæcc’s estate” or similar.
The #3,049 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 26,267 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Paxton is a place-name surname taken from towns and parishes called Paxton, especially Great and Little Paxton in Huntingdonshire and Paxton in Berwickshire. The name is generally explained from Old English personal name elements plus tūn, meaning “estate,” “farm,” or “settlement,” so the literal sense is something like “Pæcc’s estate.” Older writers also treated the surname as simply “of Paxton,” i.e. someone who came from one of those places.
History
The surname appears in medieval records in forms such as Pacston and Paxtun. English and Scottish bearers could derive from different Paxtons, so the name is geographically plural in origin rather than from a single family line. Later spellings such as Paxon sometimes arose as simplifications or variants.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Great and Little Paxton, near St Neots in Huntingdonshire, were already being cited by 19th-century surname writers as the key English source places for the name.
From the historical record
“PAXTON (Eng.) Bel. to Paxton = P^ECc's Estate [O.E. tun\ Paxton, Hunts, was Pacston in the 13th cent ; Paxton, Berw., was Paxtun c. 1 100. PAY \ (A.-Lat.) a nickname and sign-name PAYE J from the Peacock [M.E. pa, pe, O.E. ped, pdwa, Lat. pauo, a peacock] PAYAN \ see the commoner (but less correct) PAYEN ; Payn(e.”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)