Stockton
A habitational surname meaning “from Stockton,” a place-name built from Old English words for a stump or stock and an enclosure or settlement.
The #2,709 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 23,203 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Stockton is an English habitational surname taken from any of several places called Stockton. The place-name is usually explained from Old English stoc or stocc, meaning a tree-stump, trunk, or stock, plus tun, meaning an enclosure, farmstead, or settlement. In effect, the name likely meant “settlement by the stump/stock” or a similarly described enclosed place.
History
The surname is found in several English counties, reflecting the many places named Stockton. 19th-century surname writers noted that it is less common than the place-name evidence might suggest, and that in some families the name may have been shortened to Stock. It is especially familiar today through Stockton-on-Tees, though the surname can derive from any Stockton locality.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Harrison notes that the surname may sometimes have been clipped down to Stock, which helps explain a related surname that looks quite different at first glance.
From the historical record
“Spenser, Faerie Queene, I. ix. 34,. STOCKTON (Eng.) Bel. to Stockton, 13th. 14th cent. Stockton, Stokton, Stocton, Domes- day Stochetun, etc., A.-Sax. Stoctiin = the Tree-Stump or Trunk, or Log-Fenced, Enclosure [O.E. stoc{c + tun\ Stockton is not so common a surname as the prevalence of the place-name would lead…”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)