Slayton
An English surname that likely began as a place-name for a house or homestead linked to weaving.
The #4,969 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 43,676 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The surname is usually explained as a place-name built from Old English elements. In the cited source, it is connected with a word for a weaver’s slay or reed, plus tun, meaning a house, farmstead, or enclosure, giving the sense of a place associated with weaving. As a surname, it would have identified someone from such a homestead or settlement.
History
The name is uncommon and appears to be English in origin, though the evidence in the provided excerpt is brief and somewhat compressed. It probably arose first as a local or habitational name and later became hereditary as surnames stabilized. Modern bearers are especially found in English-speaking countries, including the United States.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
The element tun in Old English place-names is the ancestor of modern English -ton in many town and village names.
From the historical record
“the slay ; a weaver. Slayton. Sice, a slay ; tun, a house, a habitation. A house where weaving is done. Sleeper. Slcep-ere. A sleeper.”
— Family Names from the Irish, Anglo-Saxon, Anglo-Norman and Scotch