Winton
A surname usually from a place-name, especially one of several English townships called Winton.
The #8,408 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 78,561 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Winton is generally a habitational surname, taken from a place called Winton. In the older sources cited here, the name is linked to Old English elements meaning roughly “Wine’s farm” or “Wine’s estate,” from the personal name Wine plus tūn, “farmstead, settlement.” The same place-name can also underlie the historic Latinized form Wintonia, used for Winchester.
History
The surname appears in medieval records in forms such as de Wineton and de Wynton, showing its use as a locative byname. The sources point especially to Winton in Yorkshire and Westmoreland, with additional place associations in other parts of England and Scotland. As with many locational surnames, it would have been adopted by people who moved away from their home township and were identified by their place of origin.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
One older source notes that Winchester was sometimes called Winton because of its Latinized name Wintonia.
From the historical record
“WINTLE for Winkle, q.v. WINTON (Eng.) Bel. toWinton (Yorks: Domes- day Wiiietun; Lanes: a.d. 1622 Winton; Westmd. ; Haddingt. 12th cent. Wynton) = Wine's Farm or Estate [O.E. wine, friend + tiin, farm, &c.] An unidentified Winitun occurs in a Latin charter of the Confessor (dated a.d. 1066). Thomas de Wineton (Kent). —”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)