Plumpton
A habitational surname meaning someone from a place named for a plum orchard or plum-tree enclosure.
A rare surname in the US — the 2010 Census recorded only about 140 people with it nationwide (rank #123,064).
Etymology
Plumpton is a place-name surname formed from Old English elements meaning “plum tree” and “enclosure” or “settlement.” In the sources, it is explained as “the plum-tree orchard or enclosure,” pointing to a place where plum trees grew. The surname therefore originally identified someone as being “of Plumpton,” from one of the English places of that name.
History
The name is recorded as an English local surname, with medieval spellings such as Plumton and Plumpton. Harrison notes that both the Northamptonshire and Lancashire place-names appeared in 13th-century records, and Bardsley also treats the surname as locational and sometimes variant forms like Plimpton. It remained a fairly local English surname before later spreading more widely.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Some medieval landholders named Plumpton were recorded with distinctive feudal services, including one Sir Robert Plumpton in Nottinghamshire.
From the historical record
“PLUMM, V. Plum. PLUMPTON (Eng.) Bel. to Plumpton = the Plum-Tree Orchard or Enclosure [O.E. pliime + tiin] Both the Northants and the Lane. Plumpton were Plumton and Plumpton in the 13th cent.”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)