Quinton
A surname usually taken from places named Quinton, meaning “the queen’s estate or settlement.”
The #9,421 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 89,440 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Quinton is generally a locational surname, taken from one of the English places called Quinton. The name is usually explained from Old English cwēn, meaning “queen” or “wife,” plus tūn, meaning “farmstead,” “estate,” or “settlement.” In effect, it means “the queen’s manor” or “the queen’s town.”
History
The surname was already in use in medieval England, and the historical sources point especially to Quinton in Gloucestershire and Northamptonshire. Like many English locative surnames, it would have been adopted by people who left the village or were identified by their place of origin. Later records show the name continuing in parish registers and other documentary sources, with the modern spelling Quinton becoming standard.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
One historical source notes that the Gloucestershire place-name appears very early, in a ninth-century Latin charter as Cwentun.
From the historical record
“Pat. Rolls, A.D. 1491-2. QUINTON (Eng.) Bel. to Quinton = the Queen's Manor [the genit. of O.E. cw^n, a queen, wife -)- t<in\ The Glouc. Quinton occurs in a ninth- century Latin charter as Cwentun. QUIRK (Celt.) for the Manx and Irish Mac Cuirc = Son of Corc [Ir. mac, son -f- cuirc, genit. of corc, a knife]”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)