KINGSTON
The surname Kingston is of English origin and is a locational name derived from any one of the numerous villages and towns in England called “Kingston” or “Kingstone”.
Its etymology is straightforward. The Old English elements cyning meaning “king” and tun meaning “settlement” or “enclosure” combine to give “cyningestun”, the settlement or enclosure of the king. Consequently, the surname originally applied to those who lived near, worked for or were otherwise associated with a royal manor.
The earliest documented spelling of the family name appears in the Pipe Rolls of Yorkshire in 1175, in the form Alan de Kingistona, during the reign of King Henry XI (1154‑1189). Later medieval records include Nicholas de Kyngeston (1247, Oxfordshire) and Robert de Kingeston (1273, Gloucestershire). In the early 17th century the name is recorded in London when Thomas Kingston married Marie Starkey on 24 November 1633 at St. Peter’s, Cornhill, and the christening of Arthur, son of Thomas and Mary Kingston, on 23 May 1641 at St. Margaret’s, Westminster.
Variations in spelling—such as Kingstone, Kingstun, Kington, Keniston, Kinston and Kiniston—reveal the influence of regional pronunciation and the lack of standardised spelling in medieval England. In Ireland the name was occasionally adopted as an Anglicisation of Gaelic surnames, and in Scotland a similar surname, King, may have arisen from the same source. Where “ton” is an Anglo‑Saxon suffix signifying an enclosure or settlement, other surnames such as Stanton, Hampton or Merton share this linguistic root.
Contemporary distribution data show that the surname Kingston remains most common in the United Kingdom, but it is also found with notable frequency in the United States, Canada and Australia. In Jamaica the name is relatively common, a legacy of British colonisation and the capital city named Kingston. Among contemporary bearers of the surname are the British actress Alex Kingston and the Jamaican‑American singer Sean Kingston.
Typical given names associated with the Kingston surname
Male
- Andrew
- David
- James
- John
- Mark
- Michael
- Paul
- Peter
- Richard
- Robert
Female
- Elizabeth
- Emma
- Helen
- Joanne
- Laura
- Louise
- Margaret
- Mary
- Patricia
- Rachel
- Sarah
- Susan
Similar and related surnames
Related and similar names are generated algorithmically based on the spelling, and may not necessarily share an etymology.
How to communicate the surname Kingston in...
Braille
⠅⠊⠝⠛⠎⠞⠕⠝
Morse
-.-..-.--....-----.
Semaphore
There are approximately 6,076 people named Kingston in the UK. That makes it roughly the 1,558th most common surname in Britain. Around 93 in a million people in Britain are named Kingston.
Surname type: Location or geographical feature
Origin: English
Region of origin: British Isles
Country of origin: England
Religion of origin: Christian
Language of origin: English
Famous people named Kingston
- Alex Kingston - Actress
- Lady Gabriella Kingston - Royalty and English freelance feature writer
- Mark Kingston - Actor (1934 to 2011)
- Beth Kingston - Actress
- Winifred Kingston - Actress (1894 to 1967)
- Danny Kingston - Judoka
- Diane Kingston - Disability rights activist
- Jim Kingston - Cricketer (1857 to 1929)
- Judith Kingston - Paediatric oncologist (1949 to 2016)
- Fred Kingston - Clergyman, educationalist and cricketer (1855 to 1933)
- Vera Kingston - Swimmer, Olympic athlete, Birtish Empire Games silver medallist (1917 to 1)
- Hubert Kingston - Cricketer (1876 to 1955)
- William Kingston - Cricketer (1874 to 1956)
- Charles Kingston - Cricketer (1865 to 1917)
- Graham Kingston - Welsh cricketer
Names and descriptions courtesy of Wikipedia, and may contain errors. This is not intended to be an exhaustive list of every famous person with this name.