Stanton
A habitational surname from places named for a stone settlement or a settlement by stones/rocks.
The #968 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 8,577 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Stanton comes from Old English elements usually explained as stān, meaning 'stone' or 'rock,' plus tūn, meaning 'enclosure,' 'farmstead,' or 'settlement.' So the name originally meant something like 'stone settlement' or 'the farmstead by the stones.' It was taken from one of several English places called Stanton.
History
The surname is widely recorded in medieval England because many villages and townships were called Stanton. Historical surname dictionaries note examples from several counties, showing that the name arose independently in more than one locality. It later spread through England and, with migration, to other English-speaking countries.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Because Stanton is a common place-name, the surname could point to more than one original family home rather than a single ancestor.
From the historical record
“hdm, a dwelling] in the 9th cent. STANTON (Eng.) Bel. to Stanton = i the Stone DwELLmG(s. 2 the Dwelling(s or Farmstead by the Stone(s or RocK(s [O.E. stdn, . stone, rock + (tin, farmstead, etc.] StdntUn occurs fairly frequently in deeds of the A.-Saxon period : in Latin charters”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)